Girl Meets Senior Year
by Serafina Claremond
Summary: It's their final year of high school, and they've come a long way: from getting shoved in The Hole to Mr. Matthews' final advanced history class, it's time for the clique six to bid their farewells and head off to college. But before they can move on to the new world and new adventures, they have a few things they need to fix. And it won't be easy.
1. one

**Part One**

* * *

With her small microphone and laptop ready, Riley took a deep breath and channeled her excitement. " _And we're back_ , my dear Patriots! Here we are for another round of school."

Since she was sitting on the steps of one of the side entrances to the school building, she had a perfect view of the courtyard. And from across the way, she spotted Isadora waving goodbye to her younger brother who was just beginning his freshman year.

"But for those in the senior class, welcome to our final year at good 'ole Abigail Adams High." Is eventually found her way over, smiling and quiet, clearly careful not to make a sound that could ruin the first, and arguably, most important, anonymous podcast of the school year.

"The last three years have been full of tears and laughter, even more so for our fellow populars: the _chosen ones_ who hail from the cheerleaders, the jocks, the creatives, and the future scientific leaders of the world." Riley looked at her best friend and winked. "Now's the time for us to reminisce, and become completely unaware that the year is zooming past us."

The courtyard was buzzing with chatter and squeals, occasionally punctuated by loud welcomes and the crowd favorite: "Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you!" Is nudged her in the ribs and pointed at Lucas, the cherished All-Star player and team captain of AA High's lucky baseball team. He was wearing a fitted varsity jacket and ruffling one of his younger twin sibling's hair. Nearby, there were several girls swooning over the team, vulnerable to the boys' charm. _Typical_.

Riley did her best to ignore him and his friends. "I'll start us off: remember when Dave asked Yindra to the Fall Ball our sophomore year? Or when Sarah was crowned junior Ice Princess at Winter Formal without her dear Prince Wyatt?"

She saw Zay walking up the steps of the main entrance, glowing in his bright blue varsity jacket. She'd almost called out his name, but it couldn't make it past her throat. Next to her, Is seemed to be scanning the crowd for a particular face, and Riley worried that what she was about to say next wouldn't go well with her.

Apologetically, she touched her shoulder and spoke. "Here's one most people have forgotten by now. But who remembers when those awful seniors shoved a particular core group of friends into The Hole? We never thought Matthews, Friar, Hart, Smackle, Minkus, and Babineaux would make it out alive."

In turn, the little genius gave her a scolding look, but Riley pretended not to notice. "But they did. And from then on, we knew they could make it through anything, as long as they were together."

A familiar head of wild, blonde hair bobbed through the crowd, bright and smiling as usual, making her way to her admirers. Her gaze unsurprisingly passed over the two girls sitting on the sidesteps, and she sat on her throne. Or, well, the decades-old, designated bench for the Queen Bee.

"But we were wrong. After one December night, their names would never appear together in a single sentence that didn't include the words ' _the end_.' Oh, how the mighty had fallen." Next to her, Is was still searching the crowd and checking her watch for the time.

"Coming to you live from the steps of AA High, I wish you all a memorable school year!"

As soon as Riley closed her laptop, Is asked, "Are you ever going to tired of creating your weekly podcasts?"

"What? No."

"Not only do you have to plan what you are going to say and then say it without error, you have to then run the recording through a voice change simulator. Not to mention, that to ensure your anonymity, you have to find a different publicly accessed computer to upload it online. Quite frankly, it doesn't seem worth the time or the effort if no one is listening."

Riley straightened her back and spread her arms out. "My dearest Is, I've told you a thousand times that it's not about the numbers. It's about getting my thoughts out there. Like Gossip Girl, but without all the backstabbing because the world is a much better place than that!"

Is stared at her.

"Okay, fine. If you want numbers, I got over 1000 cumulative listens last year."

Still not impressed, she suggested, "Perhaps more people would listen if you shared your name."

"This is anonymous for a reason. I don't mind the extra effort of trying to hide my identity. Especially if it means you-know-who can't figure out that it's me."

"Statistically speaking, you-know-who already has."

Riley squinted. "Statistically speaking, talking about this at school isn't a smart idea."

"Neither is recording it."

The brunette cracked a smile and brushed her hair out of her face. Admittedly, Is did have a point: she only recorded at school for more authenticity. There was something about hearing her own voice over the hum of oblivious students that made it more real and less like an isolated freak gossiping about the people at their school.

Smiling back at her, Is noted, "I must concede that you've gotten better at your broadcasting position with the school station."

"Thanks, Smackle. I appreciate that," she replied, using her old nickname and smiling warmly, eager for a hug. But Riley noticed that the corner of her lips were turned down and that "Isadora shine" in her eyes had dimmed. "What's wrong?"

She hesitated. "I miss them."

Riley's smile disappeared, but she gently placed a hand on her best friend's shoulder and said, "I know you do."

"Do you miss them?"

Riley dropped her gaze — she wasn't ready for that question. On the tip of her tongue was the answer: she missed them every goddamn day. Every time she saw one of them, she was ready to apologize and move on and be fixed. "I try not to think about them."

Isadora's eyes widened in response. "They're all I think about."

"And yet you still have a perfect 4.0," she said, lifting her hands in the air.

Her friend smiled immediately, and quietly asked, "Is it okay that I do? That I miss them?"

"Of course, Is. You need to feel whatever you feel." _Texas_. Riley smiled at her. "Missing them is just…a byproduct of what happened. But come on, let's go to first period."

The two of them stood in unison, drawing the attention of the Queen Bee. Their eyes made contact for just a second before Riley looked down to smooth out her cheerleading uniform. She'd needed to wear it today to encourage freshman to try out for the team — the same reason why Is was wearing her National Honor Society cardigan and pin.

Is looped her arm through Riley's, something she'd grown comfortable doing over the past two years, and they headed straight to AP Government - the one advanced placement course Is hadn't taken yet. And the room was empty, except for one pesky teacher.

"Mr. Matthews, greetings. I was unaware that you were teaching AP Government this year. Had I known earlier, I would've had time to find a more suitable and competent replacement for you. Einstein Academy had the best networking system for this type of situation," Is finished her statement with bright eyes and a self-satisfied grin.

"Uh, thanks, Smackle. But I didn't find out until this morning." Cory looked over at his daughter and said, "We missed you this morning."

She almost rolled her eyes. "You say that every morning."

"Riley—"

"Dad, I wish I had time for breakfast with you and Mom and Auggie during the school year, but I have broadcast stuff to get done in the morning. You know that." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Is step back to pick out their seats.

"And this has nothing to do with—"

"Not at all, Dad," she said, smiling, "it's just school."

"Okay, Riley."

She didn't want to think about breakfast or Texas or even school, because her heart twitched every single time she did. Moving away slowly from her father's desk to the pair (front and center no less) Is had picked out for them, Riley placed her book bag on the table to her right, as Is most often preferred. As she dug through her bag for her new purple notebook, she heard Is gasp behind her. "Oh no."

Jokingly, she asked, "Did the great Isadora Smackle finally forget something on the first day of school? It only took you three years."

"No," Is squeaked.

"Smackle?" Riley turned to see what her best friend was staring at and was welcomed with the sight of a six-foot tall boy, with his hair spiked ever so slightly and self-confident smile flashing on his face. But as soon as he saw the girls, his eyes shifted around nervously. Up, down, Riley, Is, Is, Mr. Matthews, down, Is, up, Riley, Is. With his eyes trained on Isadora, he said, "Ladies."

 _Buggy Awards_. The thought was too sudden for her. "Farkle."

"Riley, hello." His eyes flitted over to her. "You are still more beautiful than the warm sunshine after a light rain."

 _Summer rain_. Farkle was smiling brightly despite her narrowed eyes.

"I didn't realize you would also be waiting to take Advanced Government this year," Isadora chimed beside her.

"Sweetest Isadora," he said softly. "I believed that Advanced Government was worth the wait."

Riley watched as Is's cheeks reddened.

"But if you prefer, I would be willing to switch into a different period."

Half-raising her hand, Riley faked a smile and chimed, "I'd prefer it."

"Unfortunately, this the only period Advanced Government is offered. Isn't that correct, Mr. Matthews?"

" _This_ period shouldn't even be offered by me. I'm not prepared for advanced courses!" He exclaimed from his desk. "You did this!"

Farkle nodded hello at him and tugged the hem of his faded Belgium shirt down as he took the seat behind Riley. She felt comfortable for a second, before she turned around and saw his steady gaze towards Is. "Isadora, are you feeling okay?"

Riley had thought the words, but Farkle'd said them, causing Is to raise her eyebrows. She simply replied, "I'm doing my best given the circumstances. But I do believe you lost the privilege to ask that when you stopped speaking to my best friend and I."

"Two years ago," Riley added.

His stare dropped to his desk, fingers playing with the metal wire of his notebook, and she finally turned around to face the front of the room. Her dad was gripping a single sheet of paper and a trio of wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

"Dad, is something wrong?"

"Well, uh, uh, not at all," he stuttered, "but I _should not_ be teaching this class!"

"No, you shouldn't, Mr. Matthews. So does that mean I can go home?" Maya asked as she sauntered into the classroom in her signature leather jacket and slim patched jeans. Riley knew if she ever tried to wear that outfit, she'd be kicked off the team.

"No, because if I'm suffering, you're suffering. Have a seat, Ms. Hart."

"I'm an artist, I'm always suffering." Is let out a quiet laugh, and the Queen turned her attention to her former friends. "Aw, Smackle, I've missed you. Why don't we ever see each other anymore?"

"I—"

"I mean, look at ya. Already sittin' with Farkle and Riley as if nothing's changed."

"Is is my best friend," Riley replied, keeping her hands tightly folded on her desk. She watched as Maya's smirk faded from her lips. "And a lot's changed."

"Whatever." Maya walked forward through the aisle, a loud thud of sketchbooks and pencils hitting the desk behind Farkle.

"Just so there aren't anymore surprises, Dad, who else is _surprisingly_ taking Advanced Government?"

From the back, Maya answered, "Zay is."

"Perfect," Farkle muttered.

The room was silent, despite other students trickling in as the first bell rang. Zay took the seat by Maya. Then Darby and Sarah entered. Yindra, Dave, Wyatt, Marley. For a second, it was almost like she was back in seventh grade, not a senior in high school.

Even as the classroom filled with more and more students, the seat behind Is remained empty. It was almost like they were waiting for the arrival of one more person. But the Lucas she'd known wasn't interested in government or politics — he wanted to be a vet. Then again, neither was she (or Maya or Zay for all she knew).

Riley relaxed herself when the final bell rang: knowing Lucas he would have been on time. She looked up at her dad, who stood smiling, and nodded.

"Good morning, seniors. Welcome to your _last_ first day of high school. Now, I haven't taught some of you since freshman year, so it's good to see you on the last leg of your adventure," he said. "This is Advanced Comparative Government and I am so sorry you are taking this class first thing in the morning."

Marley raised her hand on Riley's right. "How are you going to relate comparative government to our lives?"

"Ms. Evans, it's nice to see you," he greeted, then threw his hands in the air and said, "I have _no_ idea!"

The students roared with laughter. Suddenly there was a light knocking on the door. Lucas, walking into the classroom, said, "You started without me, Mr. Matthews? I thought you finally liked me after all these years."

"Good morning, Mr. Friar. Do you have a late slip?"

He grimaced. "Not quite, the twins needed help finding their first class."

"It's alright this time, why don't you take the last seat?" Mr. Matthews gestured to the empty seat behind Is and turned his attention back to the class. "This year we will be studying the governments, politics, and societies from six countries around the world: China, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. By focusing on these six, you'll soon learn how to develop a framework of modern politics and government systems to understand how they engage with the global environment."

Riley, and she assumed everyone else, stared blankly at him.

"That's what the pamphlet says," he confessed. "But think of it this way: Abigail Adams is made up of different social groups with their own structures. And while I might not like to admit it, those social groups make up a hierarchy. To maintain peace and strong relations, these groups need to work together by communicating with each other."

Yindra raised her hand. "So are our social groups individual governments or different organizations making up one government?"

"Let's determine what social groups we have on campus first. Mr. Minkus?"

Holding up two fingers, Farkle answered, "The jocks and the cheerleaders."

Her dad wrote his responses on the chalkboard and asked, "You'd consider them two separate groups?"

"I would," Zay said, "I think they're close allies." _Canada._

"Anyone else? Ms. Matthews?"

Riley watched her words. "The National Honor Society is a big group on campus."

"The creatives: artists, writers, theater kids," Maya offered.

"But what about the students who don't define themselves by one interest or hobby?" Lucas asked. "The kids who float from group to group?"

"I don't think it's about defining yourself by one interest; I'm part of NHS but because I spend more time practicing with the cheerleading squad, I'm closer with them," she replied immediately, staring straight ahead at her father.

His eyes were digging into her back, she could feel it. She almost liked it.

"That's a good point, Riley," he said. His voice still made her name sound so inviting but she kept her eyes forward. "And sometimes people with different 'main' interests can still find ways to work together."

"Yes, they can, Mr. Friar. Countries like the U.S. may have varying points of interest as opposed to China or Canada. But it's still our nation's leaders to figure out how to maintain the peace between us and them." He gestured towards the words on the board. "For our first semester, we're going to take a close look at Abigail Adams, while learning about the basics of the six countries I talked about earlier. The conclusions you all come up with in December will be used for the following semester for a better understand of how the rest of the world works."

Farkle's hand shot up. "How will we be forming this conclusions?"  
"I'm glad you asked," her dad tapped his desk. "Since you guys are seniors now, no more willy-nilly two-day projects. It's time for the big one: for the next four months, you'll work in groups to analyze the social circles of AA High. Watch how people interact and react, how nonverbal communication affects a high tension situation, and how they engage with their community, whether its service to people or the environment. If people change people, imagine how an entire group of people can change their global environment. Class dismissed."

As the rest of her classmates started to shuffle out of the room to catch up outside since the bell hadn't rung yet, she and Is stayed behind. Is asked her dad, "How will we be dividing into groups?"

He looked at her and lifted his hand. "You just did."

Riley looked around her and saw who'd stayed behind. Is to her left, Farkle behind her, Zay and Maya. Lucas. She smiled sweetly. "I'd like—"

"No."

"But—"

"Not a chance."

"But—"

"This is your world now. Sometimes things happen beyond our control. It's up to you to figure out how you'll respond to it." He lightly touched the notes she took in bright blue ink, and then placed a single sheet of instructions on her desk. "Now make me proud."

Riley grabbed her bag and started to huff out the room, but stopped. She needed to get an A in this class to secure a scholarship to one of her top three schools: Columbia, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. Turning around slowly back to face them, she made contact with Is, whose forced smile made her heart wilt. Zay had propped himself on Maya's desk, tucking her hair behind her ear, and Farkle was looking right at her. And Lucas was staring down at his hands, avoiding eye contact with them all. She said, "We'll have to make this work. But there will—"

Farkle interrupted her. "Let me guess: there will be rules. Number one, no talking about the past—"

Zay cut in. "No hugging."

"No emotions." That one was from Maya.

"No leaving less than three people alone in a room together," Lucas said. Riley looked down at her feet.

"I can't be alone with my girl?" Zay whined, reaching over to intertwine his fingers with Maya.

"You can be alone with Maya, Zay. As long as you can promise not to use me to make Maya jealous," Is said quickly. Her joke cut through the tension so precisely that the six of them all laughed.

"Oh Isadora, you stop that."

"We can do this," Riley said confidently. The blonde baseball player finally looked up at her and smiled. And then her heart melted into nothingness. Out of the corner of Riley's eye, she saw Maya shift uncomfortably. "As long as we agree that the last rule is no bay window."

Is and Farkle nodded immediately for her benefit; Zay was nodding while watching Maya carefully tuck her hand beneath her chin, avoiding any sort of eye contact. The genius suggested, "We can split the work up now to finish sooner and meet weekly to make sure everyone's parts are cohesive. We should also work in pairs."

"The instructions say 'work together' on the very top," Riley said, handing the paper over to Is to look over. "And while I'd like nothing more than to split up from everyone else, we need to do well on this project."

"I agree," Maya agreed. "College scholarships don't come easy."

Farkle said, "Alright, so we'll work together at bi-weekly meetings? And we can pick which social groups we want to look at tomorrow. Second period's about to start."

They all murmured their goodbyes, quickly scrambling out the door without another glance in anyone's direction. As Riley headed to the library to upload her podcast online since she had study period, she realized she was trailing quietly behind Lucas. _I really like you._ The words echoed in her head as they always did when she spotted him in the sea of students.

She maintained at least five steps between them, hoping he'd slip into one of the classrooms eventually. But when he got to the library doors, he stopped and held the door open. With her heart thumping loudly, she breezily passed by him, murmuring, "Thank you."

Lucas flashed her a smile and disappeared amidst the rows and rows of books. She paused, catching her breath, and thought, _this is going to be an interesting semester_.


	2. two

"Why don't you actually say that to my face?" Maya hissed.

Farkle's elbow dug into Riley's ribs as he leaned forward to repeat his previous mutterings. "What I said was maybe if you focused a little more on your group project and a little less on your phone, which I assume you're using to communicate with your precious court of populars, we could be finished by now."

Needless to say, this wasn't going well. The six of them were seated at the smallest table in the city library — it was barely meant to fit four. She could handle sitting uncomfortably between Farkle and Is, and she could surprisingly handle being this close to Lucas again for the first time in years. But what she couldn't take was the broken AC and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, leg-to-leg, skin-to-skin, sticky with sweat with everyone here.

Apparently, neither could anyone else because they'd been here for an hour and a half just arguing. And while Riley did predict as much on the phone with Is last night, she didn't expect it to last so long.

She leaned back a bit as Maya angrily replied, "I'm not the problem here."

"You're always the problem," Lucas said under his breath.

When Riley ran into her parents this morning, her mother tried to assure that since they had once been such great friends, it wouldn't matter that two and a half years had passed.

"It's like riding a bicycle," she'd insisted, "you never truly forget how it works."

Except that they had. Or they didn't but chose to pretend otherwise. Every comment was too aggressive, too real. And it started the moment Maya and Zay showed up last and Lucas thanked them for their arrival.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maya had asked.

"It means thank you, your majesty, for gracing us lowly peasants with your presence. It's not like this accounts for a huge chunk of our grade," he'd replied, his voice nice and smooth. "Oh wait, _it does_."

And it only got worse. From Riley suggesting that most of their peers actually hated and feared Maya, instead of lovingly admiring her from afar, to Farkle suggesting they'd get more work done if all of their phones were put away as Maya's eyes were glued to her own to Lucas now suggesting that all of their problems stemmed from her, it wasn't a productive meeting. In fact, she realized as the meeting went on, it seemed more like a venue for people to express their displeasure with their queen. And she even felt a little bad for her.

"Whoa there, Friar. How am _I_ always the problem?"

"Well, let's see—"

"Because the way I see it, you're the problem."

Is warned, "Maya…."

"Right, Lucas the Good can do no wrong!"

"What have I ever done to you, your majesty?"

"Dude, back off," Zay interjected. "Look, guys, the annual poetry festival gonna start soon and they're gonna kick us out. Can we just figure this out already?"

Lucas insisted, "We're try—"

"We are not trying. We are _arguing_. So I beg you: let Zay go!"

Despite herself Riley laughed at his complaint. "He's got a point."

"Would you look at that? Riles and I agreed on something. Let's start there." Beside him, Maya half-pouted and the rest of the group sat in silence.

But Riley beamed at him. "My dad has a lot of expectations for this project, and is expecting weekly status updates. Let's go through the deliverables again."

Is picked up the crumpled sheet of instructions and started to read, "'This project is separated into three parts: personal, team, and environment. The team portion will be due at the end of the month. Your personal reflections are due at the end of October. Lastly, you will have two months to work with your team to perform an analysis on several social groups on campus and how they engage with each other.'

Zay said, "The personal stuff sounds easy: it's just individual write-ups about our relationships and the groups we're involved in at school."

"For the team portion, we each need to meet with three other people on our team for 10-minute interviews. We will need to record them and analyze the impact our team as a whole has on the AA environment," Is added.

"So we need to determine who's meeting with who," Lucas said. He hadn't made eye contact with her at all; his eyes were too busy falling on Maya and Zay, who'd been holding hands. "How do we do that?"

"I would prefer not to meet with Farkle," Is said firmly. "Given our romantic history, I do not believe it would be most beneficial for our project grade."

Riley felt the other genius shift uncomfortably, stabbing her in the ribs again with his elbow. But before she could even look at him, Maya was speaking.

"If we're naming preferences, I refuse to work with Friar over there."

"And I don't wanna partner with Zay," Farkle added.

"Fine by me."

She groaned. "You were just all for keeping the peace like a minute ago, Zay."

"He was being attacked!" Maya shot back. "You know what, add Ms. Sunshine over there to my no-no list too."

" _Guys._ " Lucas hit his hand against the table. "Zay was right. If we're gonna act like this, we're not getting an A. Now I'd like to get into Cornell or Texas A&M, and to do that, we need to do damn well on this."

They all looked away from each other, but Riley kept her eyes on Maya, who was fiddling with her pencil. She felt Lucas' words sink in and the truth hit her right in the heart: he'd be leaving New York City for college. Ignoring the dull pain in her chest, she squared her shoulders and reminded herself that if everything went exactly according to plan, she'd be gone too, even further away.

"I'm hoping to get into A&M too, man," Zay said thoughtfully. "You're right when you said I was right. Mr. Moral Compass, always showin' us the light when we need it."

Without comment, Maya ripped up a sheet of paper from her notebook into six uneven pieces and wrote on each piece. "We'll draw names out of a hat and that's how it'll happen. Got it?"

"Yes, your highness," her boyfriend replied with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and lightly shoved his head before dumping the papers in his baseball cap.

Zay drew first and smiled widely. "Riley."

Waving her scrap in the air, Maya said, "Farkle."

"Which leaves me and you, Smackle."

Is reddened. "Stop flirting with me, Lucas. It's embarrassing for you."

"Smackle!"

They all laughed, including Farkle. Riley tucked her hair behind her ear and said, "We should have this set of interviews done by Monday. Agreed?"

As soon as the five of them nodded with approval, she jumped out of her seat, knee banging against the table and an elbow lightly grazing Farkle's neck.

"Oof."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"It's been awhile," he laughed, "since you've inadvertently attacked me like this. I almost missed it, Riles."

She watched him walk over to her former best friend, her hand drifting to her chest without thought. Zay lightly bumped her and said, "Riles, you wanna go ahead and figure this out?"

"How've you been, _Babineaux_?"

"You've never called me that before."

"The rest of the cheerleaders do. Are you still afraid of us?"

He puffed out his chest. "I've matured. You have no hold over me, _Matthews_. How's my favorite hoodlum?"

She gave him a small smile. "You still remember that?"

"How could I possibly forget the way Lucas imitated your facial expression at lunch the next day? The both of y'all, ridiculous, I swear," he said, cackling and shaking his head. It almost sounded like he was referring to something else, but she let it slide and scrutinized him instead.

He was all too familiar still. Zay kept his hair short and his smile was every bit of charming as the first day he called her 'sugar.' But he'd grown a little more muscle over the years, thanks to baseball, and he looked tough, like he could take care of himself in a fight.

But despite it, despite how easy it felt for her to joke around and smile at him, she knew he wasn't the same Zay. He changed. He was king of the school, and Maya's boyfriend, however that happened. "Are you free to meet now? We can go to my place."

"Ya, sure. But Sarah's having her party tonight, remember?"

She sucked in air. "Right, Sarah's party."

Every year, Sarah held a party for all the athletes to ring in the new semester, but this time Riley had definitely forgotten. The stress of this government project was already getting to her — and it was only the second day.

"The interview is only supposed to take, like 15 minutes, right? We'll be fine. Come on." She gathered her things and put the instructions back in her bag as Zay took several strides over to Maya and Farkle.

Without even a glance at the latter, Zay wrapped her in his arms and they all heard him whisper, "I'll see you tonight, I'm gonna have to meet you there."

Maya's eyes were wide as she nodded, smiling, and lifted her lips to his for a light peck. Riley sighed — of course Maya was coming to Sarah's party. Everyone always undoubtedly invited the queen. Which meant she would be dividing her time evenly between avoiding her and avoiding Lucas. Good thing she'd already mastered it.

—

As soon as Zay stepped foot into her home, he proclaimed, "It is good to be back! It's like coming home again."

Her parents, who'd been sitting cozy on the couch, stood immediately, and her mom warmly embraced him. "It's good to see you, Zay. You've been missed. How does the team look this year?"

"Not bad, not bad. Freshman tryouts start in a couple weeks, so we're looking forward to that."

She said slowly, "And you're captain?"

"Nah, Lucas got that one, which is fine by me," he replied, "means I spend less time with Coach Peters and more time with Maya."

"Speaking of, why don't you ever join us for breakfast? She's here every morning with Katy and Shawn and we would love to have you."

"I didn't know I was invited. Riley's never mentioned it."

 _That's because I don't join them_. Before her mom could reply, Riley interrupted, "Anyway, Zay and I need to work on our interview for this huge project Dad's making us do."

Her dad gave her a tense smile and asked, "I take it your meeting went well?"

"We decided to do our first set of interviews this weekend and since Zay and I have to go to Sarah's party tonight…." her voice trailed off.

Topanga pounced. "Party? What party?"

"The one Sarah _and her parents_ host for the athletes every year."

"Are you lying?"

"Geez, Mom, a little faith would be nice." She groaned and said, "They were there last year and the year before that, Mom. Do you remember calling Sarah's parents and effectively labeling me the lamest girl at Abigail Adams for a month?"

"That's right, you were Lame Riley," Zay said, shaking his finger at her. As soon as she glared at him, he cut his laugh short and insisted, "I never called you that, out of loyalty."

"Now that brings us to an interesting point: what is loyalty to a government? Is it expected or should you be allowed to use it as social currency?"

Riley whined, "Daaaaad."

"You're right, we'll get to that soon," he said, lifting his hands up in the air. "Well, you'll have to do the interview in your room. Your brother, Ava, and Emma are hogging up the kitchen table right now and I want to be surprised."

So she dragged Zay up to her room and the first thing he said was, "Your room looks exactly the same. Even the bay window!"

He was right and wrong: she never redecorated, she didn't see a reason to, but small changes were made. Photos were taken down, letters pinned to her memory board disappeared. But Zay probably didn't notice. In fact, he was too busy sitting in the middle of the bay window humming.

Riley rolled her eyes and started to pull out her Nikon DSLR and tripod, gifts courtesy of Uncle Shawn and Katy (and Maya) on her 16th birthday. The sneaking suspicion that the equipment was meant to help mend her friendship with Maya never really went away whenever she used it. "Are you ready?"

"Do you want me to sit here?" Zay scratched the back of his head. "I know the bay window is off-limits."

She thought about it. "Well, if I interview you first, it wouldn't matter because you're by yourself."

"See, I was thinking though, what if we did something different, something creative? Instead of you just asking me questions and me talking, what if we interviewed each other at the same time? We'd be creating a more authentic conversation and showing your dad what inter-community engagement looks like."

"Especially from two athletes. The baseball player and the cheerleader. I like it." She grinned at him. "That's a really good idea, Zay."

"Of course it is, Riles. So where should we sit?"

She slowly directed the camera towards the window and said, "I guess, the bay window."

"How should we start?" He asked when she sat down next to him.

"You're Isaiah Babineaux," she started, glancing at the camera, "and one of the senior baseball players and the king of the school."

"I'd say Lucas Friar is the king: he's earned it. He's baseball captain and vice-president of the honor society, and he volunteers at the animal shelter downtown."

"He does? How do you know that?"

"He's my best frie—" Zay stopped himself. "I'm just the prince, even if I'm dating Maya Hart."

"What's that like? Dating the Queen Bee? The Blonde Beauty herself?" She'd tried to bite down on her cheek to keep the contempt from coming out.

"When Maya and I are together, walls come down. It doesn't feel like she's in one group and I'm in another," he said, turning to the camera to smile. "I also think it's good for us to leave the cliques at school: we avoid avoidable conflicts for a healthy relationship and conflicts with the rest of the school. But you know all about that, Ms. Cheerleader."

"Ha ha, ay. We're not as bad as movies make us out to be!"

"Sure, sure. So Riley Matthews. _The_ Riley Matthews." She blushed and tried to interrupt him, but he shushed her. "No, no. _The Riley Matthews._ Cheerleader, alternate broadcast reporter, honor society. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, that sounds about right."

"What about friends?"

"I'm close with the rest of the squad, they're such wonderful people!" She exclaimed. "And Isadora Smackle is my best friend."

"How did that happen exactly? After what happened at the ski lodge.…" he trailed off. "I see the two of you every morning on the steps when you could be with the cheerleaders. You stick with Smackle."

Why didn't she spend her mornings with the cheerleaders? They all hung out together before the first bell until the last minute of practice. She shrugged it off and teased, "Probably because I'd rather stay away from the baseball players."

"It's gonna be like that?"

Riley giggled and pushed his shoulder away. "First of all, the popular clique is mixed with athletes, NHS, and creatives. _Don't live under a label; it just gets in the way of who you are._ Remember that?"

"I might've missed that class," he admitted.

"Coexistence means not confining ourselves to one label. That's why I joined extracurriculars I was interested in. Sports, journalism, math," she replied. "Second of all, Is and I were there for each other when no one else was."

"Loyalty."

A sudden chill went down her spine.

"You know, Riles," he said, rubbing his hands together, "I would've been there for ya. The same way I was there for Maya."

"I wasn't interested in being evened out then and I'm not interested now," she snapped.

"Whoa there, didn't mean it like that." Zay ran his fingers through his hair. "All I meant was after what happened up at the ski lodge, I would've been there for you too. Because you're my friend. It didn't have to just be you and Smackle against the rest of us."

She shook her head and felt her eyes fill with water. But it hadn't been her and Is against them. It was her against Maya and Farkle against Zay and Lucas hurt by her and Is hurt by Farkle. It was all of them against each other. "It was all of us against each other. Loyalty be damned."


	3. three

A/N: Thank you guys for the support and the reviews! I love you all and I can't believe the support I'm receiving from you guys. I haven't answered a lot of shipper-related questions, because I'm not too sure what's endgame right now. But I do ship Riley and Lucas, so there's an 85% chance this story will end with them. HOWEVER, above all, Riley and Maya are my babies (and I hope to do their friendship justice in this story) and that's what I'd like to focus on. Enjoy!

* * *

Sarah's entire townhouse reeked of puke. As soon as her parents felt they fulfilled their chaperone duties, they disappeared for the remainder of the night, clearly unbothered by the loud ruckus their daughter's friends were causing. They also didn't seem to mind that the smell of vodka and puke was making its way throughout their entire home.

"Come on, Riles, it's an easy dare," Zay was saying, "I know you can do it if you just tried."

Riley, Yindra, Sarah, a few of the younger cheerleaders, Zay, Lucas, and several basketball players were circled up on the living room floor, playing history's worst party game. It'd started out easy enough, a few embarrassing confessions and stories were shared, before the drunken ringleaders of the game decided the truth option was keeping the game from being more exciting.

She tried to opt out of the game, but Zay pleaded with her with his puppy dog eyes and she caved. So now they were playing drink or dare, two things Riley absolutely abhorred. Luckily, no one had targeted her quite yet and she only had to stay for fifteen more minutes, fulfilling her one party per month policy. Until now.

"Absolutely not!" she exclaimed, folding her arms over her chest and squinting. "You can't be serious! No, no, no, no, _no_."

Yindra shouted, "Come on!"

"Riley, Riley, Riles, look at me," Sarah babbled, the smell of alcohol on her breath smacking Riley in the face, "you come to all my parties like a good friend and you never drink. At least do the dare. Please, please."

She was about to shake her head no at the wasted cheerleader when she caught Maya's gaze as she sat behind Zay. Zay didn't convince Maya to play with them, so she silently sipped on her beer every time the circle roared with laughter. The blonde's eyebrows furrowed for half a second before she shrugged and looked away again.

Zay repeated, "I dare you to stay at the party until midnight."

"Fine, I'll stay." The clock behind him read 11 P.M. but when she grabbed her phone to set a timer, she realized it was only 10. "Bleh, who's hasn't been dared yet?"

Across from her, Lucas raised his hand slowly. Immediately, her eyes shot over to Maya before darting around the room again. _It's just because Is couldn't come._ Riley lowered her shoulders and straightened her back. "Okay, Friar. How about this? I dare you to square dance for two minutes."

"And who's gonna be my lucky partner?" he drawled, winking at her. _You know anything about sports?_

"I didn't have anyone in mind." She tilted her head up as he stood, their eyes locked.

"So I get to pick? That's not much of a dare, Riles."

Her heart fluttered as he spoke, but the moment he said her name, it crashed into the wall of her chest. Without hesitation, she smirked. "Of course you don't get to pick, silly. You're square dancing by yourself!"

The drunk group of athletes started to cheer and scream as their beloved baseball captain cowboy-danced for them. As their shouts grew louder (and sloppier), Lucas's grin widened and his movements became more enthusiastic. He looked like he was certainly back in Texas, back in his element. Lucas kept his gaze at Riley, and her cheeks reddened, and sticky, thick blanket of alcohol, sweat, and puke lifted away.

Once Lucas's two minutes were up, Derrick Bell, a junior teammate, patted his back and said, "I knew you secretly had to be a dancer. No baseball player's hips can be that loose!"

He brushed him off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

A few more friendly dares were exchanged, making another hour pass quickly by. Yindra snapchatted a confession of her undying love for Steve Buscemi; Dominque, a basketball player who Riley knew in passing, asked her private math tutor if he knew how to teach cats calculus; and Zay perfectly performed one of the squad's more popular football cheers, receiving a standing ovation from everyone in the room.

Even in their drunkenness, Riley's classmates were reasonable with their dares — until they started to run out of ideas. And after the fifth cheer routine was performed, Sarah proclaimed it was time for a new game — kiss or tell.

"It's easy, really," Sarah was saying as Riley frantically checked her phone for the millionth time to see if she had perfect time travel, "someone asks you a question and if you don't want to answer it, you kiss them."

"And if you're really, really uncomfortable with the question, you can pass," Yindra slurred. "But remember, most of us aren't gonna remember any of this."

Zay started. "Riles, are you enjoying yourself?"

"Not at all." The athletes booed and she smiled sweetly at them anyway. "Yindra, what is the most interesting thing you've ever done?"

Taken aback by the normal-ness of her question, Yindra hesitated. "I uh probably would have to say when I uh uh went to the N-Nepal place for vacation. Anyway, Derrick, w-who is the prettiest girl you've _ever_ kissed?"

"Probably Sarah," he answered. When his teammates hollered, Derrick simply shrugged and she pouted at his reaction and askied, "What? I wasn't a good kisser?"

Riley rolled her eyes. It wasn't too long ago when Sarah was droning on and on at practice about how Derrick was a crappy kisser who didn't know what to do with his tongue.

"It's not your turn to ask a question."

"My party, my rules."

"Fine." Derrick moved into the middle of the circle and placed his lips on hers for just a second before ducking back. Sarah pouted again and fluttered her eyelashes. He turned to Dominique and spoke slowly, careful not to trip over his tongue, "What's the sketchiest place you've ever made out with someone?"

"Oh, that's easy!" she squealed, "some convenience store down in a part of Chicago."

"Chicago?"

"I moved before high school," Dom answered, shrugging, and pointedly staring at Maya. "Are you playing?"

Without a single glance in the poor girl's direction, she said, "Sure, why not."

"What happened between you and Matthews?"

The entire room went quiet. Riley had seriously assumed that her classmates were so beyond wasted they couldn't even remember what silence sounded like, but here they were, mouths gaping. She almost snickered at their expressions, completely amused, until she saw the corners of Maya's mouth quiver just slightly. _What is she thinking?_ Riley shifted, suddenly drawing everyone's attention to her, and she scratched her arm.

"When did I become 'Matthews'?" she asked, breaking the silence. Her voice was a pitch too high, too jarring in her ears. Everyone looked at her — no one dared to answer. "Suddenly, it's like my name isn't e-even Riley anymore. Is Riley a bad name?"

"No." _Lucas._ The only one brave enough to join her and he was laughing at her. Or maybe with her? Did it count if she wasn't laughing on the outside?

"Okay, _Lucas_ ," she said, consciously adding a hint of a giggle to her voice, "then you tell me why—"

Maya interrupted her. "If you really want to know, you should ask Lucas."

"I don't even know what happened between the two of you," he admitted, hands in the air. "Ask _Matthews_."

 _Traitor._ "Don't ask me."

"What happened at that _damn_ ski lodge?" Dom shrieked, clearly unable to take it anymore. "It's been two years, like, _get over it already_!"

Maya stood up suddenly, and poured her beer over the sophomore girl, before storming out of the living room. The entire place shook when she slammed the front door. Riley wanted to jump up and chase after her, but she stayed still, watching Zay go instead.

Quietly, she said, "If the question is what happened at _that damn ski lodge_ , Dom, you really should ask Lucas. He knows about that part."

"You really shouldn't answer, _Luke_ ," Dom said, wiping herself dry, "because then you get to kiss me."

 _Are you fucking kidding me?_ "Are you seriously flirting with Lucas as you ask him to tell you the story of how he broke a girl's heart and after you watched Maya storm out because of your inability to shut up?"

"I-uh…."

"That's what I thought, Dom," she said sweetly.

"You're supposed t-to be the nice one," Dom accused, pointing her finger angrily. "I expected a drink over my head from _our beloved queen_ , but you—"

Riley stood and tipped her cup over, letting the full contents spill out onto her lap. "If anyone sees Zay, tell him I'm sorry I couldn't finish my dare. Goodnight, guys."

Behind her, she could hear Dom shrieking and Yindra scolding her anyway, but Riley knew that they were all too drunk to remember this. A hand wrapped around her arm, stopping her at the doorway. _Lucas._

"I'm heading out too, let me walk you."

She nodded, unsure of what she could possibly say. _I miss you. I'm sorry. I forgive you._ Of course there a million things she _could_ say, but she bit her tongue.

On the stoop beneath the stars, Riley, with the help of the dim street lamps, saw Zay and Maya, his arms wrapped tightly around her. She could hear her whispering, "I don't like to think about it."

"I know, I know."

Not wanting to disturb them, Lucas took slow and quiet steps and beckoned for Riley to follow him. Naturally, she missed the step and gasped, waiting to crash on the cold steps, but Lucas caught her easily. "Gotcha."

She found her footing and tucked her hair behind her ear. "T-thanks."

Zay swung his head around. "You two leaving already?"

"I couldn't quite finish my dare, Babineaux, she replied But if it makes you feel better, I also poured my drink on Dom."

"What?" Maya turned around.

"Luckily, I hate alcohol," she said, looking at Lucas who nodded in agreement, "so my cup was pretty full."

"Yeah, she wouldn't stop and then started to _flirt with me_ , so I thought it was time to go," he said, finishing the story.

Riley sat down two steps above Zay and Maya, and Lucas followed suit. "What would you have done, Zay?"

"Honestly? I would've answered the question. But that might just be because I don't know what happened either." He tilted his head up to the night sky, searching for the stars. "I know what happened after, between Lucas and me and Farkle and me. The after is where we are, but where it _started_ — only you three know that."

His voice was a whisper by the time he finished; the lack of confidence was unnerving, because he really was just caught in the middle. _Poor Zay._ And then he asked, "Please just tell me: what really happened that night?"

"I-I don't really know, buddy," Lucas answered first. "She - Riley - got upset with me and refused to speak to me. And whatever happened afterward with Maya…."

She tried biting on her cheek to keep from snapping, but it wasn't enough. In a harsh whisper, she replied, "That's not what happened. You didn't pick me and got upset. You got angry with me."

"I picked you, Riley. I said the words, 'Riley, I pick _you_.'"

"You were left with me. You saw Josh and Maya—"

"Riley, I meant it when I picked you. I didn't even get the chance to tell you that I loved you before you got upset."

He was right: he never got the chance to say it. She never got the chance to hear it. But what did that matter right now? "If you loved me, if you really loved me, Lucas, then why did I see you at Sophia Martinez's party a week later, kissing _her_?"


	4. four

**A/N:** Short chapter tonight, my loves! I've written a good portion of the next chapter and felt that it was better to split it here. Hope you don't mind!

* * *

 **Podcast #2**

 _"And for those of you who were at Sarah's party last Saturday night…is it really true that Matthews and Hart got into another fight over Friar? Please tell us, we're desperate!"_

* * *

"And that is how the Mexican government was formed!" Her dad was finishing up their lesson, which, for once, didn't apply to their lives. "Now tomorrow is the last day of your third week of school, which means you have exactly one week until your team portion. And if your status reports are accurate, then all of you are behind."

The class groaned together and he laughed. "For this reason," he said, tapping his chalk against the table, "I will be extending the deadline. Parts one and two will be due at the end of October."

He walked up to her desk and said, "I know college applications are coming out and for most of you that means spending your nights writing and rewriting your personal statements for your english teachers to look over and edit. To say who you are in 1000 words is a daunting task. While you are searching for those perfect thousand words to convince someone to accept you based on _that_ , I hope you refuse to let those words be your only definition. Because, really, who can define themselves at all?"

They stayed silent and Riley couldn't bring herself to look around the room at them. Her dad smiled at the room. "Smackle, Yindra, Wyatt. Farkle, Zay, Marley, Darby. Lucas, Maya, Riley. You all have more to offer than a thousand words. Remember that, work with your friends, and you'll get very far in life. These essays don't define you. And I believe in you all. Good luck."

* * *

One week ago, the only things standing between Riley and lunch after advanced gov was an awkward study period knowing Lucas was somewhere in the library and a couple elective classes. But since Mr. Stevens decided he wanted to broadcast school announcements after lunch, it meant rearranging her carefully thought out schedule with her guidance counselor. And now, before her favorite meal of the day, she had to sit through three of her four advanced classes and one study period with Lucas somewhere in her vicinity.

Aside from her dad's daily inspirational speeches, her other two AP classes were some of the most boring classes she's ever needed to sit through — and that included her world history classes sophomore year. At least, the material for bio and calc BC was interesting enough to make up for her teachers who spoke monotonously for fifty-five minutes straight. Plus, Zay sat behind her in AP Bio and cracked jokes under his breath the whole time.

But now, lunch. She saw Is standing at the cafeteria entrance alone, probably waiting for her, and scurried over. "Is!"

"Oh, Riley, you look so tired."

"Three advanced classes before lunch was not the best idea I've ever had. But at least the rest of the day is more relaxing." She adjusted her book bag on her shoulder. "Do you mind if I eat with you today?"

"Of course!" Is smiled at her. "As long as you don't mind James eating with us."

Back during their sophomore year, Is's mom insisted that Tobias, the oldest of the Smackle bunch, eat lunch once a week with his only sister to keep her company. Riley always suspected it was her mom's way of helping Is get through her break-up, but she never pressed for an actual answer. "Did I ever tell you how sweet it is that your mom wants to keep the tradition alive?"

"Approximately 23 times, Riles." They chose a table somewhere in the middle of all the teenage chaos, close to the cheerleaders and close to the resident geniuses.

Riley pulled out her roast beef sandwich from home and said a little prayer before asking, "How's Tobias doing anyway? Rhode Island treating him well?"

"His voice is much more enthusiastic on the phone," she replied, nodding, and was about to add more when James sat down on the bench next to his older sister and said, "We talking about Tobias pulling off the most insane real life plot twist ever?"

"Yeah, _Jamie_."

"Then yes, he's much happier at RISD than he would've been playing football for those schmucks in Ohio." The dark haired freshman pushed his glasses up with two fingers, smirking, and said, "Hello, _Miss_ Riley."

She threw a veggie chip at Jamie, which he promptly picked up and stuck in his mouth. "Smart mouth, I'm not your tutor anymore." Riley had spent her sophomore year tutoring seventh graders in pre-Algebra, including the youngest Smackle who preferred not to learn the material from his older siblings. "How's freshman year for treating ya?"

"I haven't been shoved into a hole yet by any seniors," he answered, stuffing his mouth with french fries and tater tots, "unlike Simon Babineaux."

"Who shoved Zay's brother into the Hole?" Riley gasped. Is's brother shrugged in response, brushing his pitch-black hair off of his forehead.

From behind her, a voice replied, "I heard it was the baseball team. Their new way of initiating the younger generation." Riley groaned at the sight of him.

Farkle extended his hand towards James and introduced himself. "Farkle Minkus, at your service."

Isadora abruptly looked away, but her brother, bold and brash, kept his dark eyes trained on her ex-boyfriend. "I know you who you are, Fark. You used to come over to the house all the time."

"As president of the Tech Club on campus, I wanted to extend a personal invitation to you." He adjusted You used to be interested in the club, when I used to come over…."

Beside her, Riley felt Is picking at her skin and gently cupped her best friend's hand with her own. "You couldn't do this any other time?"

"I saw him here in the cafeteria, I thought it would be fair game. Just like you taking Isadora away from me, Riles." He saluted a goodbye to Jamie and marched off, disappearing into the AA crowd. She wanted to yell after him, remind him that he was the one who pushed Is away suddenly, and the one who stopped to talking to her because she took care of his ex in the aftermath, but Is tightened her grip on Riley's hand and she was brought back to her.

Next to his big sister, James was muttering, "Never liked that guy one bit."

"Oh Jamie. You adored Farkle, it's okay," Is whispered, "He's just not the one anymore."


	5. five

**A/N: Hello, loves!** This wasn't originally the next chapter, but after your responses last night to Farkle's reaction, I had the urge to write this!

* * *

 **Part Two**

* * *

 _Smackle was quietly sitting in the bay window, eyes puffy and wet. Her hands were folded into her lap and her knees were pressed against each other so tightly._

 _Riley thought she looked like a baby bird trying to hold herself together. After handing her another tissue to wipe her tears, she asked, "Do you wanna talk about it, Smackle?"_

 _The dark-haired genius simply shook her head. "Can you hug me?"_

 _"What was that?" she asked, stunned._

 _"I need a hug, Riley."_

* * *

Enough was enough. The rest of the day passed in a hazy, angry blur — Riley had had enough of Farkle's attitude and his complete disregard for Smackle's feelings. Right after cheer practice, she hopped on the subway and went straight to the Minkus residence.

She slammed her finger on the buzzer, multiple times, until she heard the click that let her into the building. As soon as he swung the apartment door open, he asked, "Riley? What are you doing here?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Riley demanded to know.

"What?" She pushed past him and walked into his apartment. Sarcastically, he added, "Why, of course, Riley, would you like to come in?"

"Today? At lunch with Jamie?"

"You know that Is and I are in the same advanced program, correct?" Riley nodded slowly, unsure of where he was going with this. Is always left after lunch to take a few classes at the local tech and science college that partnered with Abigail Adams. "When else was I supposed to ask him? I saw my chance, and I took it."

"You _took_ it? You couldn't even care that Is was sitting right in front of your face?"

"It was academic-related. _That_ takes priority."

"I don't get who you are anymore, Farkle _._ You come into advanced gov and pretend to want to be our friend again, you sit behind me to get under Is's skin, you get offended that she doesn't want to work with you, and then this?" she ranted. "Academics takes priority over the people you fucking care about?"

"People _I_ care about? Try people who have refused to acknowledge my presence for two years, Riley." Farkle hit the end table with his palm and angrily added, "And her name is Smackle."

"I don't call her that anymore and you—"

"What do you have to say to _that_? Why do you even care if I've changed," he snapped. "You stopped caring after we went to the ski lodge, and I stopped hoping you would when Smackle came running to you for help."

"She came to me for a reason, Farkle!"

"You don't think I know that? You don't think I know that Smackle freaked out about our future together when we spent that summer apart? That even being away from each other for three months was hard on her? I knew everything, Riley!"

"She needed me mo—"

Farkle paced back and forth, rubbing his hands together forcefully. "And when I asked you to help _me_ , the person you've been friends with since we were seven, you didn't want to. And that fucking hurt."

They were both shouting now. Her face was sticky with tears and she folded her arms over her chest. "You wanted me to put you over her?"

"Of course not, Riley! You could've been there for both of us."

"Like you were for me _and_ Maya _and_ Lucas?"

"I defended you _to_ Lucas, in case you forgot. It cost me my friendship with Zay." He ran his hands through his hair. "And I went to you first that night and you turned me away. Maya let me stay."

"All I wanted was one night alone. And you didn't come back. Instead, you stayed friends with him, even after what happened."

"Of course I did. He was my best friend."

"I pushed you away once. You were there every day for Maya, and you _never_ came back for me after everything got messed up! You and Is breaking up was just the last straw.""

"Everything is fucked up _because of you_ ," he yelled, "You made it hard for us all to stay friends. You refused to look at Lucas or your best friend, you practically made everyone take side and it was ridiculous! None of us wanted that shit: friends don't draw battle lines and force everyone else to play along!"

His words hit right on the mark and her breathing hitched. Her lips quivered. Her chest tightened and all feeling in her heart was squeezed out. Riley clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palm, so she could know she was alive.

She tried counting to ten, slowly, but his eyes, dark and angry, kept distracting her. _I'm sorry._ They were there, ready to jump, ready to finally be reality. _Please forgive me._ Her mouth fell open, but his parents walked in through the kitchen and she wiped at her eyes. Riley knew it was pointless — her eyes were probably red. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Minkus."

"Riley! It's been so long since you and the gang have been over," Jennifer Minkus stated, pulling her into a hug. "You're staying for dinner, right?" It sounded less like a question and more like an order.

But she declined anyway. "Farkle and I just needed to talk about our advanced gov project, for my dad's class."

"Right, we heard about that," Stuart Minkus said, a bright smile on his face. "Your dad must've felt really clever coming up with that one."

"Probably," she chuckled. "I should head back home. Long night ahead of me. Good night."

"Bye, Riley!" They chimed. Farkle followed her out the door and lightly closed the front door shut. "Riley—"

She waved him off. "There's nothing left for us to say. Just be more mindful of Is. She won't admit it, but she—"

"I know." Seeing her puzzled expression, he said, "Because I still feel the same. But that's not what I wanted to say. Our conversation has been recorded."

"I'm sorry, _what_?"

"Since my dad brings home a lot of experimental tech and equipment, he doesn't want to risk anyone stealing it. So there are video cameras recording everything as part of the security system he had installed." He paused to confirm she understood. "If you would be okay with it, we could use the recording as our second interview."

Of course this was about the project. She mentally reviewed the benefits: she wouldn't have to talk to anyone else and she wouldn't have to talk to him anymore. "Okay, whatever. I'll let _Is_ and Zay know they can partner up."

His eyes widened. "That would leave Lucas and Maya. You're okay with that?"

"Goodbye, Farkle."

* * *

 _"What is wrong with you, Freak Face?" He shouted at Lucas as soon as he stormed into the common room. "You had one job: not to hurt my friends!"_

 _"I- What did Riley tell you? I tried," Lucas insisted. But Farkle put his hands up and pushed him. "What happened to talking it out instead of violence?"_

 _"You moved here," he argued, shoving the blond again, "and you made Riley fall for you," another shove, "and then Maya," a push, "and you tore them apart."_

 _Riley simply stood at the bottom of the stairs, gripping the banister, with tears in her eyes. Maya wouldn't bring her eyes to her bes- former friend, and wasn't even looking at their best friends physically fighting._

 _"Don't push him, Fark!" Zay shouted, pushing the two of them apart. And when he turned to look at Farkle, the genius's fist slammed into his cheek._

* * *

"You went to see him?" Is asked, her voice breaking through the phone. "Why would you do that, dear friend?"

"Because I love you."

"The sentiment is indeed returned, but why would you go see him?"

"For the same reason I told Lucas at the party I knew about him kissing Missy Bradford at Sophie's party after the ski lodge: I couldn't take it anymore." She sighed. "He keeps showing up to hurt you, Is, and I hate it."

"I am not hurt, Riley."

" _Is_ ," she warned, collapsing back onto her bed with her phone pressed against her ear.

"I am not actively hurt by his presence in my life anymore." Is went quiet and if it weren't for her light breathing, Riley was sure she'd fallen asleep on her. "Do you plan on resuming your service at the tutoring center this year? James mentioned everyone missed you over there."

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly.

"James said they miss your innovative ideas, like working with the animal shelter downtown to show kids potential causes to work for. So much good came from that." _Lucas_.

"I don't think so, Is."

"But—"

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep over?" she offered, cutting her argument rather short. "It could be just like old times."

"Next week," Is promised.

"Okay." Riley was ready to say her goodbyes, but then Is softly mused, "Perhaps, Farkle is simply trying to figure out how to be our friend again."

* * *

 _Her arms had been wrapped around Smackle for almost an hour now, but the girl never shifted away or asked Riley to let go. Gingerly, the brunette furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "You okay there, Smackle?"_

 _She flinched and Riley quickly released her from the hug. "I'm sorry," Smackle said, "it wasn't you or the hug."_

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"Yes, I trust you, Riley." Smackle took a deep breath and explained quietly, "When Farkle and I first met and became archenemies, he was the first one to refer to me by my surname—"_

 _Her voice broke and so did Riley's heart. "Isadora?"_

 _"And for some inexplicable reason, it hurts. Why does it hurt?" Isadora's words weren't directed to Riley, so she did what she did best — she wrapped her arms around her again._

 _Unsure of what to say, she nervously exclaimed, "I'll call you Is now!"_


	6. six

**A/N:** Hello my loves! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

 _"_ Of course you and Riley went ahead without us and did your parts," Maya snapped as soon as Farkle explained what happened the day before, "How typical."

The six of them were once again at the library, this time seated around a wide circular table near the history section. If it weren't for the scowl on Maya's face across from her or Luca's helpless glances next to her, Riley would've felt extremely comfortable with them for once. _Again_. She kept her gaze down as she spoke. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a formal interview — I'm not even sure if it's something my dad will accept."

Next to Maya, Farkle opened his mouth to disagree, but the blonde asked, "Why wouldn't he?"

"Because it's just an argu—"

"What Riley means," Farkle interrupted, "is that it's a discussion on personal relationships and conflicts. It's perfect for a project like this."

Maya squinted at him for a second, the rest of the table unreasonably quiet, and then flipped her high pony back over her shoulders. "Whatever. Friar and Smack were already paired off, so it's either her and Zay or her and me. So what do ya say, Smack?"

"Well," Is explained, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Riley mentioned it to me last night, so I asked Zay to be my partner this round." Riley silently thanked the universe for keeping her best friend quiet about her request that she pair off with the goofy baseball player.

"Right," she drawled, "because you're _best friends_." Turning her attention to her boyfriend, she asked, "So it's me and Friar this time?"

"Ya see, I uh," he stammered, "Smack asked if I wanted to hear a story and I said yea and she made me be her partner! She's an evil genius, I mean, look at her!" The six of them finally broke out into laughter and Riley looked up at them, an actual smile on her face. Lucas glanced over at her automatically and when he smiled back at her, her heart warmed. It was almost like she didn't blurt out that she saw him kissing someone else. It was almost like he didn't kiss someone else. It was almost like—

But he had. It was still so clear in her mind. His hands splayed across someone else's hips, his forehead resting against hers. She shook the thought and went back to playing with her fingers.

"We might as well figure out who the last pairs are, since we've got that extension," Lucas suggested. The rest of her group murmured in agreement but no one came up with any suggestions on how to determine the last sets. So when he asked, nearly whispering, "How about it Riley?" she whipped her head up so fast, a sharp pain suddenly throbbing in her neck.

Riley gripped at the back of her neck. "I, uhm—"

"Actually, Luke, I was, uh, thinking here," Zay interrupted, his eyes focused on her, "that you and I could do one together."

"Oh." The baseball captain looked from her to his former best friend and back at her. "Yeah, Zay. It can be just like old times."

"Cool, man." The two baseball players outstretched her hands and did some weird, secret handshake. "So that leaves the four of y'all to do a half square dance."

" _Shit._ "

"Riley?"

Oh, that came from her. "S-sorry, I meant — Uhm." _Farkle and Maya, Farkle and her, Farkle and Is. Shit._ "Maya and I, we, uhm—"

"We both already partnered with Farkle."

" _Oh._ " Riley didn't know if the noise slipped out from Is or from Farkle or from both of them, but they were looking at each other now, clearly scrutinizing the other for any signs of visible discomfort.

Lucas blurted, "Then I can be Riley's partner!"

"No, no, you and Zay should be partners," Isadora said, a familiar confidence regaining footing in her voice. "I will partner with Farkle." She reached for Riley's hand and squeezed. "I'm okay with that."

They were all staring at her now, and Riley was sure they were all slightly unnerved. It had only been three weeks ago when the genius (the one they barely recognized anymore) refused to work individually with her ex-boyfriend. Riley couldn't help but smile: Isadora Smackle's army within was still alive. _But what changed?_

"Then it's settled. Lucas and Zay, Is and Farkle, Maya and —"

"Riley," her old best friend finished for her.

"Sounds like a good plan," Zay said, standing up and stretching. "Come on, babe, we got a date to get to." Maya smiled up at him and nodded. With quiet goodbyes, he slung his arm gently around her leather-clad shoulders and they walked away.

"I should go too," Is said, "there's an engineering professional networking event at NYU I've been invited to."

"Isadora, since I'll be attending too, would you like to take the subway together?" Farkle asked, a little brazen and a little shy. _Maybe he really did want to fix his friendships with us_ , she thought, _but I guess we ruined that plan._

"It would be quite logical, yes," she replied, slipping her backpack on. _And then there were two._

Lucas was sitting down next to her still, playing with his pencil. Two people, next to each other, one large table — she could only imagine what it looked like now that everyone else was gone. So she stood, rather abruptly, and hit her knee against the table leg. _Why was it always me?_

"Why is it always you?" he once asked, always echoing her thoughts. And then he would joke, "How are you a cheerleader?" She would playfully push him away and he'd grab her wrists and —

"Riley?"

"Y-yes?"

"I asked why are you always the one to bang your knees against the table? Maybe you should think about sitting far away from the legs."

She shrugged. "Who knows? But I should get going, I'll see you on Monday."

"Wait, Riley," he pleaded, his lips curving downward. "Can we- Do you think we could talk?" _About the party._ Riley nodded and lowered herself carefully back into her seat. "What happened between you and Farkle?"

Wait. "What?"

"You guys couldn't look at each other the entire meeting. Are you guys okay with each other?"

"Have any of us been?"

Lucas lifted his hands up, his shirt hugging his chest. "Fair point. But, you know as well as I do that some of us have been on better terms with each other…." His blonde hair swept across his forehead, she noticed, wondering when he stopped lightly spiking it.

"That's fair," she admitted. They were still sitting next to each other, looking at each other, and she could only picture what that must have looked like. _Because it's not until you really looked at each other and made a human connection that you can even begin to know each other._

Her eyes dropped down to his lips, studying their curves, as he said, "Come on. Let's go get ice cream."

Wait. "What?"

"Down the street. You need it."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were at her favorite mom-and-pop ice cream shop in the city. But Riley hadn't been here in a year and a half, not since she stopped volunteering at the tutoring center down the street.

"You know, I haven't been here," Lucas was saying, "since sophomore year." He ordered for her — chocolate chip and cookie dough ice cream in a waffle cone — without asking, without checking, without knowing. Riley wondered if he assumed she never changed. _Change fills my pockets with pennies of uncertainty._

Without acknowledging his order, she smiled at the worker and said, "And he'd like a scoop of the mango sorbet in a cup please."

"You remembered?" _He hasn't changed either_.

Riley ignored the surprise in his voice. "Are you going to order Dawn and Finley something to go?"

"Not today, no. They're both trying out for different teams this week, so they've been on a diet and exercise plan for the entire month." Lucas smiled a bit, the way he always did when he talked about the twins.

"They're not starving themselves, are they? They're being careful?"

Lucas grinned at her concern. "I'm constantly checking on their identical, pretty blonde heads to make sure they haven't gone overboard. Dawn's trying out for basketball, Fin for cheer."

Her heart soared at that. "Really?"

"Yeah, she's totally excited about it. She misses you actually."

"Has she still been training in gymnastics and ballet?"

"And square-dancing."

"Friars can't let Texas stay in Texas."

"Why would we?"

They walked along the street, close without touching, focused on their icy treats. Riley didn't even realize she was grinning. It felt easy, no pressure. No history. No party. No triangle. _No kiss_.

Eventually they ended up at Abigail Adams and peered into the empty courtyard. Not a single student in sight. Riley carefully opened the wrought-iron gate and ran over to the jock table, stuffing the rest of her half-eaten cone in her mouth. She wondered if Lucas could see the rebellious glint in her eye.

Instead, he propped himself up next to her, and mused, "You never sit here. You're always off with Sma- Is on the steps over there."

 _Why did you just call her Is?_ "I like it better over there."

"Why?"

"The squad gets me after school and at games and at parties…." _Crap._ He was definitely going to ask about the party now.

But he didn't. Instead, Lucas fiddled with the spoon from his ice cream. "Do you still volunteer at the tutoring center?"

"Not for awhile," she answered, the corners of her mouth turning downward. "You don't?"

Lucas shook his head, looking down, looking almost sad. "Not since…. Well, you know."

"Right." She inhaled sharply. Riley knew what his answer would be but played dumb and asked, "And the animal shelter?"

"All the time," he replied, smiling again, "That is hands down the best idea you've ever had, Riley Matthews."

Her cheeks reddened. "Thanks, I'm actually going to write about it for my personal statement."

"Columbia and Stanford still?" _He remembered._ Lucas remembered. When all he got was a nod in response, he half-winked at her and probed, "So about that party…." _Oh no._ "I want you to know, I didn't kiss her. She kissed me."

Riley raised her eyebrows. "It didn't look like you were pushing her away."

"You're right, I didn't. Not right away." His green eyes shone in the sunlight, but there was something wrong. Something scared, she thought.

"It's okay, Lucas. We're past that. We've been past all of that." The sooner this conversation ended, the sooner she could get out of here. Get away from him.

"We're not, Riles. How can you say that?" Lucas lifted his hand up, and it moved towards her before he caught himself. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have pushed me away. Not at the ski lodge, not at the tutoring center, and not at the party. Every time we get close, Riley, you push me away."

Everything slowed to a stop. Her heart hit the walls of her chest, rhythmically and painfully. _He was right._ "Lucas—"

"If you're about to give me another excuse, Riley, another lie, I don't want to hear it anymore." His eyes were pleading with hers. "I don't blame you at all, for anything that happened. I just want the truth. Please, Riles."

And that was the last thing she heard as she ran away.


	7. seven

**A/N:** This is me trying something a little different... Hope you guys enjoy it!

* * *

Her weekend drifted by in a haze — an angry, self-loathing haze. Lucas was right: every time she let him back in, she pushed him away. She couldn't seem to choose any other option besides a hit-and-run.

That year at the tutoring center with him, she thought the universe was putting everything back in their place. Even the kiss she witnessed wasn't enough to make her stop hoping. But she ran from that too.

Why did she always run? Why? _Why?_

When she got home from the courtyard, she cried her eyes out for the rest of the day and skipped dinner. Her parents easily chalked up her disappearance to the Hunter family dropping in and staying.

On Sunday, she decided to sleep it off. Riley hoped that she could dream away her feelings. She ignored Isadora's calls and slept. She slept through her church service in the morning, through her afternoon study session with the squad, through dinner with Ava's parents. It was impossible for her to sleep straight through it all, waking up from restlessness here and there, but it wasn't until nearly midnight when she felt a buzz of energy coursing through her system.

So she finished off her weekend completing her assignments and replied to Is's frantic, worried texts, before crawling back into bed with her hand gripping a crinkled picture of the two of them sharing an ice cream cone.

Riley didn't need the moonlight to see what they looked like — she had it memorized. Maya's mouth was open, but her eyes closed, ready for the ginormous spoonful of ice cream Riley was about to shove into her mouth.

 _Maya._ If only she were here, Riley thought. And then she fell asleep.

* * *

 _Past_  
Her day didn't start oddly enough for her to be a little worried, a bit paranoid about who she would run into. In fact, it was the first day in about nine months she felt a little piece of herself come back home. She smiled at her parents and Auggie at breakfast, eating with them for the first time the entire school year. Though, that might have had much more to do with Shawn and Katy insisting on having their own family weekend breakfasts at their place for once. And everything after her daily check-in with Smack — Is, she mentally corrected herself — went really well.

Everything leading up to this point, to her sitting beneath the air conditioning vent with her skin exposed to the frigid air blowing straight down and through her sheer cream sweater, had been normal. Her assigned students for the day, James Smackle and his best friend, had already procrastinated their designated fifteen minutes and were working calmly.

And then Lucas walked into the tutoring center — her tutoring center — wearing a crisp, new varsity letterman jacket and his heart-melting smile. He was the first sophomore to make varsity baseball in the past decade, and even from afar, she was immensely proud of him. But she was currently keeping her head down, focused on the two boys in front of her. Not on him. Not on him ever again.

Unfortunately, her supervisor brought him over as the new Saturday volunteer, and asked her to help him learn the ropes, and she was forced to finally look at him for the first time since last December.

"Hey, Riles," he greeted softly, peering up at her through his eyelashes. "I didn't know you volunteered here or…."

"Or what, Lucas?" she quietly snapped. Riley didn't mean to snap at him in front of the boys, but her thoughts were buzzing around her head so fast she didn't know which one to grab onto and follow. She was thinking about that damn kiss at Sophie Martinez's party and the ski lodge and how much she missed him — _how much she wanted him._

"I would've gone somewhere else." With his shoulders slumped and his lips curved into a frown, he seemed unsteady to her. But not unstable, like Texas Lucas. "I know you hate me."

 _I don't hate you!_ She was ready to blurt it out. Instead, she shook her head, not wanting to distract the boys from their practice test, and said nothing. The blonde shifted in his plastic seat, the chair creaking every which way, and suggested, "If you want, I can go somewhere else! I can get my volunteer hours elsewhere."

Again, Riley shook her head and he scooted his chair in closer. "Why are you volunteering anyway?"

"My mama insisted, because it'd look good on college transcripts if I started early." Of course it was only about college to him. "Plus, if I can get a scholar athlete scholarship or something, it'll really help my family out when Dawn and Finley are at that point."

Right, the twins. She missed those two beautiful blonde fairies. "You can stay here," she answered, "I know how important it is to you to take care of your family. I won't mind, really."

"You always did have the biggest heart," he drawled, " _Riley._ " It sounded like his lips were taking extra special care of her name. Oh those lips she's mi— "I heard Farkle and Smackle broke up. I thought they were forever."

 _I thought we were forever._ "Yeah, _Isadora's_ taking it pretty hard."

"How's Farkle doing?"

"You don't know?" He shook his head somberly. "We don't talk anymore. We sort of drifted away after the ski lodge." _Because I went to Sma-_ Is _instead of_ him _. Is instead of_ her.

Without pause, Lucas said, "I really missed you, Riley."

* * *

"Riley? Hello? Are you even listening to me?" She opened her eyes and woke up at cheer practice, face to face with Sarah. Her captain had a firm hand on her hip and was angrily tapping her foot at the brunette. "Hello?"

"I'm so sorry, Sarah. What were you saying?"

"Ugh," she groaned, "it's like you start hanging out with that old group of friends again and you go back to ignoring the rest of the us. Earth to Riley: we're your family. Plus, Smackle."

"You guys were there for me, I know that," she answered cautiously. "And I appreciated that."

"Good, I need you to remember that." Sarah turned her attention back to the rest of the squad and said, "As I was saying, the Fall Ball rally is this Friday and the dance is next week. I was hoping to have our new routine ready to go, but that seems unlikely now. We'll have to stick to the classics for the rally."

"And the dance?"

"The Fall Ball is our chance to shine. It has always been the squad's moment in the spotlight every year. And that's because one of us always wins queen," she said sharply. "We'll have the new freshmen with us by then, so everyone must be at the top of their game — with their dresses and their dates."

Riley cringed. She didn't want to find a date, let alone go to the dance. But she knew Sarah would kick her off the squad in a heartbeat if she didn't participate. "Who's even nominated this year?"

Half the girls gasped. "Were you not paying attention during your own broadcasting class?"

"I've been kind of out of it," she admitted meekly.

"Nominees for King were Zay, Lucas, Wyatt, Clark Wu, and some guy named Fred Savage," Rebecca Lewis, one of the sophomores, recited with ease. "Nominees for Queen were Sarah, of course, Maya, Marley, and Channing Yang."

She counted in her head. "Aren't there supposed to be five nominees for Queen?"

"I thought you meant besides yourself," Rebecca replied, eyeing her, "You really have been out of it all day, haven't you?"

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Now she really had to go to the stupid dance. Riley closed her eyes and wished herself away.

* * *

 _Past_  
"Riley, this is a really great idea," Lucas said to her as soon as she got back from her meeting with the program director at the tutoring center. She'd given him her notes to look over without telling him her plan. "Letting the kids volunteer to push them out into the world and expose them to more than just academics? It's brilliant, Riles."

It'd been four months since he started volunteering with her, and her skin was probably tomato red anyway. She tried to joke it off. "Thanks, Friar. Did you see what's at the top of my list?"

He quickly flipped through the booklet to her list of recommendations and smiled. "The animal shelter? There's an animal shelter downtown?"

"There's a ton throughout the city, but that's the closest if they ever wanted to take a break from studying and walk over in the afternoon. I already talked to Mr. Smith, he runs the shelter, and he was so excited about it," she softly mused, "It was really cute."

 _Kinda like you_ , she wanted to add on. Riley kept her mouth shut and quietly nodded in agreement with Lucas' suggestions. Their knees were bumping into each other and even through all of their layers, his touch still sent a spark up her spine.

In the end, she realized he simply kept repeating himself: "It's brilliant, _you're_ brilliant."

* * *

Riley's eyes blinked open at the group's meeting at the library. She could barely lift her head to look at Lucas, who opted to sit directly in front of her at their round table. Their meeting was coming to an end, after deciding that the last set of interviews should be finished within the week. Excitedly, Zay congratulated her, "Sugar, I can't believe you got nominated for queen!"

"Me neither," she mumbled, her lips fashioned in a tight smile. "It was … very unexpected."

"My girlfriend and my good friend both nominated for queen! It's exciting!" He looped both arms over Maya and Riley, smiling, but they both shifted uncomfortably beneath the weight.

"Congratulations, Maya." _Peaches._

 _Honey._ "You too, Riley." Her mind clung to the thought of the picture she fell asleep with the night before and almost teared up. "And even though I'm technically queen, cheerleaders always win," the blonde rolled her eyes, "so I hope it's you over Sarah."

"Thank you," she murmured, "that means a lot."

They all said their goodbyes, even Lucas who hovered for a few minutes, trying unsuccessfully to make small talk, and Riley opted to stay and continue working on her assignments on her own. She figured staying at the library would keep her awake, as opposed to the near-coma she was in at home over the weekend. But her determination didn't last long and she closed her eyes, for just a second to recollect her thoughts.

* * *

 _Past_  
Lucas reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. Shyly, he looked up at her through his eyelashes. "Riley, I really like you still. My feelings haven't changed since the ski lodge. And if anything, they've grown because of getting to know you more here."

"Lucas, I—"

"Be my girlfriend, Riley. I choose you. Please choose me too." But she couldn't forget what he'd done. And she didn't even have the nerve to bring it up. _It's been six months since we became friends again_ , she thought. But she couldn't let go.

"Lucas, I'm sorry." Riley's eyes were glued to her hands as she shook her head. "I'm so sorry."


	8. eight

**A/N:** It's been awhile LOL I'm so sorry. Here's a snippet that's been sitting on my desktop since forever. Now that I'm done with school, hopefully I'll have more time to write!

* * *

 _Podcast #5_

"Congratulations, nerds! We've made it halfway through our first semester. Let's check in, shall we?" The narrator took a deep breath, clearly taking a beat to review their notes. "An uneasy alliance has been formed between Matthews and Babineaux, as well as Minkus and Smackle. But the biggest piece of gossip? There's been some murmurs of mutiny and a coup d'etat of our favorite queen. Is there any truth to that? I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

"LET'S GO, PATRIOTS!" The crowd cheered along with them and she pumped her fists into the air, a shot of adrenaline shooting up her spine. _This_ was why she became a cheerleader: the energy, the excitement, the performance. But really, it was about the power. The power to perform incredibly difficult stunts in front of her peers. Whether she was tumbling or flying, she kept her eyes open, unable to close them from the sheer excitement throbbing through her veins. Riley clasped her hands together and flipped backwards, immediately jumping into a herky high off the ground. When she landed, she moved to the front with the other senior girls, standing perfectly between Sarah and Michelle, to dance.

The crowd was eating them up, and she loved it. Abby and Deb swayed behind her, eventually getting into formation to lift her up into her signature double backflip seconds before the song ended. They caught her and Riley stood proud at the top of their pyramid, heart pounding and breathless. Together the squad cheered, "Let me hear you yell GO PATRIOTS!"

"GO PATRIOTS!" The bleachers roared, feet stomping and clapping. Nothing could bring her down, except a particular blonde seated right in front of her who finally looked up from her phone to apathetically clap for her kingdom's cheerleaders. Beside his girlfriend, Zay was cheering for the squad with the rest of the baseball team, including Lucas. Surprisingly, Is and Farkle were with them, but she didn't want to think about how tense the conversations probably were. _All of us together again…._

The squad rushed out from the field into the locker room to change and get ready for the part of the rally everyone loved: the Fall Ball nominees were going to walk across the stage with their escorts and be narrowed down to the Elite Three. Riley groaned at the thought and desperately hoped the senior class had voted for Sarah, Maya, and Channing over her. But nevertheless, she slipped into her flirty red dress, which hit mid-thigh, and nude heels, while Sarah put on a stunning floor-length maroon v-neck _gown_. She definitely looked like a queen next to Riley. The brunette cheerleader stuck her duffle bag back into her locker and sighed wistfully at the sight of her captain, before finally ducking back to the field.

The sooner she got through this, the sooner it would be over. Her thin heels dug into the dirt, but she'd done this enough times to walk gracefully back onto the field. Rebecca ran up to her - in sneakers, Riley noticed jealously - and squealed. "Oh my gosh, Riley, you look so pretty and I love your dress!"

"Thanks," she replied, smiling shyly at the sophomore. "But you should see Sarah — she looks stunning."

"Oh gosh, Riley, you're one of the most popular girls in school and you still can't let us compliment you?" Finley Friar chirped, popping up beside Rebecca.

"I am not," she argued, "and before you go on protesting, can I just say that the uniform looks perfect on you?"

"That's not fair," the blonde freshman pouted. "You can't just dismiss every compliment and then expect us to accept yours."

"Freshie's got a point, Riley," Rebecca smirked. The girls looped their arms through Riley's and guided her towards the back fence where all the nominees were hidden from the crowd. Maya was wearing a white braided halter dress and white lace heels with Zay at her side. Their hands were interlocked and they were only whispering to each other. "Where's your escort?"

Maya and Zay's heads turned toward her as she admitted, "I never asked anyone."

"Sugar, why would you go on and do that?"

"It slipped my mind," she lied. Zay whipped out his phone, furiously texting. "W-what are you doing?"

"Getting you an escort."

"We have to walk across the stage in five minutes, Zay," she hissed at him. Who could he possibly get right now? "No one possibly has a suit on them!"

"Exactly why I'm doing this."

"Zay! Put your phone away!" _Mayaaaa!_ His girlfriend stared at him, a little slack-jawed and confused. Riley could see the wheels turning in her head: neither of them spoke to her for years and suddenly he was doing her favors. She knew what Maya saw. That she was talking to him again — far more often than either of them let on during their group meetings.

"Alright alright," he relented, slipping his phone back into his pockets. "But I already got you one."

 _What? How?_

"Who?" The single word didn't come from her, instead it was Maya who asked.

"Hey, Riley." Lucas shyly pushed his hair up and smiled. "Zay said you needed an escort…"

"My boy! Always coming in clutch." Zay slung his arms around both girls and excitedly squealed, "Isn't this great? The four of us on that stage together? It's perfect!"

"Oh god, honey," Maya groaned, her fingers pressed against her forehead, careful not to smudge her make-up.

She was stunned. "How did you already have a tux on you? I-I swear I saw you in your letterman five minutes ago…."

"That's not important," he replied, smoothly brushing her off. He tilted his head and smiled at her. "Can I have the honor of walking onto that stage with you, Riley Matthews?"

Her mouth curved into a smile without a second thought. "You knew I didn't ask anyone."

"What do you say?"

"Yea, you can." _Lucas._ Riley's heart was pushing so hard against her chest, she was sure he and everyone around them could hear it clanging on the bones. Why did she run away from him in the courtyard? She couldn't remember, looking into his eyes right now, as cheesy as it sounded.

There was a muffled announcement on the stage and Lucas offered her his arm. She took it graciously, suddenly shaking at the thought of being on stage. _You're so dramatic._ He smiled at her again, his eyes slowly traveling along her body, as if he hadn't quite looked at her yet. "You look beautiful."

Riley's skin warmed. Before she could thank him, he kept speaking. "Don't push me away anymore. Can we talk after this?"

"Maya and I are meeting after this for our final interview." They walked slowly across the stage as her name was called.

"Right." Lucas turned away, smiling at the crowd. "Tomorrow then?"

"After our meeting?"

The MC congratulated the girls and their escorts. "Let's give our Final Five Princesses a round of applause."

"Go with me to the dance."

"And now for the results of the Elite Three. First is Maya Hart!"

"What?" She couldn't look at him. She needed to smile and clap, but the desperation in his voice was thick and heavy, as he asked again, "The dance, tomorrow night, you and me, please."

"Channing Yang!" _Please let the last name be Sarah_ , she thought, clapping and smiling.

"I don't know, Lucas."

His voice cut through all the noise. "I still love you, Ri—"

"And Riley Matthews!"


	9. nine

**A/N:** It's my birthday, so I thought I'd gift y'all with a little something something. Hope you haven't lost hope in this story!

* * *

 **Part Three.**

* * *

"Congratulations again, sugar," Zay repeated for the umpteenth time that morning to fill the uncomfortable spaces hanging between each of her group mates.

"Thanks Zay." The response was automatic, almost robot-like, and Riley couldn't even muster a smile this time around. She sat close to Is, with their arms lightly touching, on Farkle's couch, seated as far away from everyone else as the pair could manage. Is, being the evil genius that she was, felt a compelling need to stop by the Matthews residence earlier that morning to take the train to Farkle's together, sensing her best friend needed her and a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Lucas walked in with his own tray of coffee cups, eyes immediately trying to latch on to hers. But she couldn't. She couldn't even breathe with him in the room after what he said last night. Maya grumbled, "Thanks for getting here on time, Friar."

Avoiding eye contact with everyone else, Riley watched Farkle finish hooking up his computer to the big screen television. Is, with a teasing tone Riley noticed, asked, "You don't have something fancier? More technologically advanced? I thought this was the Farkle residence."

He stuck his tongue out at her, and the two girls giggled. She couldn't help herself, it was actually heartwarming to watch Farkle act like his old self. "I do, but I decided to go old school for this. How many assignments have we had in high school where we had to have actual in-person, one-on-one interviews? _Everything_ is digital, and in a class about history—"

"—about going back to our roots, what's more fitting than moving backwards?" Riley joked, finishing her former best friend's thoughts.

"Not moving backwards. Understanding how the past affects our future." Farkle shook his head, "Sometimes I worry society is moving forward too quickly and we won't remember why we do things now."

"They'll forget how far we've come." The last thought came from Maya, who's arm was slung over Zay's knee. Riley finally summoned enough courage to look at her, the blonde beauty, _her queen_ , and her heart sunk.

"Whose interviews are we starting with?" Lucas asked.

"Since Farkle has a fascination with the past, let's start with the first round."

Lucas put his flash drive in and turned to Is and winked, making her blush. "Ready?"

 _"Who are you?"_ Is's voice rang through the room, soft and uneasy. Hesitant. Riley clutched her best friend's arm a little tighter.

The golden-haired, western hero on Farkle's big screen chuckled. _"You already know me, Smackle."_

 _"I believe that's false. I knew you. But whoever you are now is quite the mystery to me."_

 _"How do you figure?"_

 _"Because we've all changed. It would be foolish to believe that any one of us hasn't changed since freshman year. And in my studies of human behavior, I've learned that big, traumatic events are the most likely to leave damaging, lasting effects. And the ski lodge…."_ she trailed off.

 _"I'm captain of the baseball team now, but I still love animals. I want to be a vet."_

 _"You yell more in the halls,"_ she noted.

He laughed at the ground. _"It's true. I think our core identities still exist, the important parts of us are still around."_

 _"Not Riley."_ At the sound of her name, she stiffened. _"She doesn't trust people anymore."_

 _"She trusts you."_

 _"She already trusted me. If anything, I trust her now because of everything that happened."_ Is's eyes dropped on screen, probably fiddling with her hands, and continued. _"I could have regressed after my break-up. But instead I went to Riley and I opened up to her. I-we had many conversations and I practiced vulnerability. Riley helped me. But I don't think I helped her as much."_

Over the on-screen voices, Riley loudly asked, "Do you really think that, Is? That you haven't helped me?"

"Not nearly as m—"

"That's ridiculous! You've been by my side for the last three years."

"You don't trust people as easily or at all. I don't believe that my friendship helped save you the way you saved me."

"But I still have faith in people. _Because of you_ , you idiot."

Isadora eyed her. "I-I haven't — I don't quite believe you."

"Me neither," Zay chimed with Farkle's agreement.

Riley, out of a defense, glanced around the room haphazardly. But Lucas offered an important piece of evidence on her behalf. "It's true. Sophomore year at the tutoring center, Riley set up an after-school program that worked with local businesses, the biggest one being the vet in downtown. Because she knew I wanted to be a vet."

She saw the question in everyone's eyes: _you two spoke sophomore year?_ But she brushed them all off, rather brusquely, "That's a question for another time. We should get back to their interview."

Isadora looped her arm back through her's and rested her head on Riley's shoulder. _What an idiot best friend._

 _"Trust me, Riley still believes in people. She'll always believe in people."_

"You still love her."

 _"A different topic for another time."_ He read off his notecard. _"Where do you think you fit into the Abigail Adams hierarchy?"_

As Isadora rattled about the social hierarchy, Riley looked at Lucas, her own face softening at the sound of his voice. The way _he_ got soft around Is, like he was melting, or just cared so deeply for her, for his friends. No matter how long it'd been since the both of them were actually friends.

The rest of Is and Lucas's conversation unsurprisingly focused on the actual assignment and when the screen went black, Farkle immediately clicked the next file.

A wisp of blonde hair appeared on the screen and Riley couldn't help but notice the near-perfect camera quality. She blamed Shawn for that. Only the corner of her mouth and some locks of hair were in the shot as Farkle fiddled with the focus.

His voice carried out over the shot, loud and clear. _"Maya Hart. The moon of my life."_

 _"Former moon, Fark."_

 _"I thought you and I were still friends? Or did that change because you're queen now?"_

"What?"

 _"How did that happen by the way? How did Maya Hart, queen of the art empire, take over Abigail Adams?"_ The camera zoomed out and Maya glanced upwards, eyes wide as she stares at Farkle. Riley was mesmerized.

 _"I don't know, Farkle."_ She looked down again, away from the camera, lashes long and thick. _"I showed up to school one day and suddenly I had a royal following."_

 _"Logically, the next queen should have been a cheerleader since the one before was,"_ Farkle explained. He wasn't wrong. The former queen was also former head cheerleader: when Nina Park left, Sarah was technically next in succession. The entire junior class had been slack-jawed when Nina chose Sarah as the next head cheerleader and Maya for queen. Come to think of it, Riley had seen Nina and Maya chatting occasionally but usually dismissed it as social classes integrating more.

 _"Nina and I were close; how was I supposed to know she was going to pick me over Sarah? Anyway, how about you? Where do you fit in?"_

 _"President of the chess, robotics, and technology clubs and the vice-president of the Future Global Scientific Leaders club."_

 _"Smarkle one-upped you?"_

 _"She always does."_ Even with him outside the frame, Riley could hear the smile in his voice. She was sure Is heard it too, and Is squeezed her hand as confirmation. _These crazy kids._ Lucas was one thing, but Is and Farkle were meant to be. Even if he had been a huge jerk.

The interview soon switched to Riley's and Zay's — she'd forgotten nearly everything they talked about it. It felt so long ago. But she felt everyone around her tense up as soon as they came on.

"We said no bay window!" There was an apparent hurt in Maya's voice as she reminded them. "That was, like, the first rule! And you broke it in the first five minutes!"

She tuned her out and closed her eyes and listened to Zay's soothing voice. _"I'd say Lucas Friar is the king: he's earned it. He's baseball captain and vice-president of the honor society, and he volunteers at the animal shelter downtown."_

 _"He does? How do you know that?"_

 _"He's my best frie— I'm just the prince, even if I'm dating Maya Hart."_

Riley opened her eyes and watched Zay and Lucas look at each other, really look at each other for the first time in forever. No more aggression, no more difficulty, _no more anything._

 _"Coexistence means not confining ourselves to one label. That's why I joined extracurriculars I was interested in. Sports, journalism, math."_

"Well said," Farkle applauded.

 _"Second of all, Is and I were there for each other when no one else was."_

 _"Loyalty."_ Zay's voice paused. _"You know, Riles, I would've been there for ya. The same way I was there for Maya."_

 _"I wasn't interested in being evened out then and I'm not interested now."_

 _"Whoa there, didn't mean it like that. All I meant was after what happened up at the ski lodge, I would've been there for you too. Because you're my friend. It didn't have to just be you and Smackle against the rest of us."_

 _"It was all of us against each other. Loyalty be damned."_

The video cut out finally and, besides the echo of her last words, there wasn't a single sound in the room.

"You're the king, man. And not just because you're dating Maya," Lucas broke the silence. And Riley couldn't help but melt at his kind words. "If anything, Maya would've prevented you from becoming king."

 _There it was_. "You always do this, man. Why can't you ever say anything nice about my girlfriend?"

"Don't answer," Maya commanded. "Play our video."

 _"Lucas Friar, as I live and breathe."_

 _"You got something to say, my highness?"_ The sarcasm was undeniable, but as it slowly dawned on Riley, none of their conversations really had any sincerity anymore.

 _"Why can't you treat me like a real person anymore? You never say anything nice, let alone neutral, about me ever."_

 _"I let you tease me and treat me like crap for years. I'm just finally returning the favor."_

 _"So the golden hero finally gets a dark side? You can't be Mr. Moral Compass, Lucas the Good, anymore because of me?"_

His head hung low, voice almost an angry whisper. _"I'm not good. Not after what happened."_

 _"What, Friar? What happened?"_ She barked at him. _"What did I do that was so wrong?"_

 _"You developed feelings for your best friend's unofficial boyfriend! And I, I let her push me into exploring something with you while she watched, completely heartbroken. We- we did that to her. To Riley of all people. How can you even live with yourself?"_

 _"If she had a problem with it, she would've said—"_

 _"No she wouldn't have. Because she loves us too much to stand in our way._ We hurt her. _We fucked up."_

 _"As far as I'm concerned, as soon as she broke our friendship over you -_ over a boy for fucks' sake - _I lost all sympathy for her."_

 _"You-you don't even miss her?"_

Maya leapt from her seat, out of Zay's arms, and rushed out of the room, more emotional than she wanted to let on. Farkle bluntly asked, "Does your interview adhere to the assignment at all, or should we just skip it?"

Lucas grumbled. "I'd skip it."

"Got it, Freak Face." Farkle closed out of the video file and pulled up Is and Zay's.

 _"I always thought the two of you would end up being Mr. and Mrs. Minkus-Smackle."_

 _"That is not the purpose of this interview, Zay. I know you've already gotten Riley to speak to you openly and honestly about unrelated events, but I would much rather focus on the assignment."_

 _"Sugar told you all that?"_

 _"She didn't need to tell me. No one in our group is so unintelligent that they wouldn't have noticed how comfortable she is around you again. It's a matter of logic."_

Riley turned to Zay, alone and nearly scowling at Lucas, and knew his interview with Isadora wasn't going to yield anything dramatic. They honestly should've just let Is conduct all the interviews, she thought, that would've kept them on track. The cheerleader decided to make her way further into the Minkus residence, to look for a particular blonde artist, but Maya returned in the shadowy doorway, listening to the scientific and analytical interview on-screen. Feelings and dramatics were excised as Is interviewed Zay about his actual perspective and understandings of the Abigail Adams hierarchy.

She didn't want to admit it, but the video was boring compared to everyone else's. _But maybe that's what Dad wanted. For us to explore and get the closure we needed._ After a solid twenty minutes of insight, the room, like the on-screen Zay, were exhausted.

"Alright, guys. I may have a solution to our little tiredness."

"What do you got, Fark?"

"Mine and Riley's accidental interview. The first few minutes weren't recorded so bear with us."

 _"Academics takes priority over the people you fucking care about?"_ Her voice boomed through tv's speakers — it was the loudest interview yet.

 _"People I care about? Try people who have refused to acknowledge my presence for two years, Riley."_ Farkle hit the end table with his palm and angrily added, _"And her name is Smackle."_

Besides her, she expected Is to flinch at her former nickname, but she didn't. Isadora never wavered as the argument took place on screen. _"You don't think I know that? You don't think I know that Smackle freaked out about our future together when we spent that summer apart? That even being away from each other for three months was hard on her? I knew everything, Riley!"_

 _"I pushed you away once. You were there every day for Maya, and you never came back for me after everything got messed up! You and Is breaking up was just the last straw."_

 _"Everything is fucked up because of you," he yelled, "You made it hard for us all to stay friends. You refused to look at Lucas or your best friend, you practically made everyone take a side and it was ridiculous! None of us wanted that shit: friends don't draw battle lines and force everyone else to play along!"_

"Dude, I know you and I had our differences, especially after you punched me for defending Lucas, but that was mad harsh," Zay remarked. "Riley was right. Loyalty didn't mean anything to any of us after we got back down from the ski lodge."

"Precisely! Riley was hurt; why was it expected of her to simply deny the pain and suffer silently, continuing her friendships with both Lucas and Maya?"

Farkle gulped. "I was angry, I'm sorry, Riley. Those words, they're something I can never take back. I wanted to hurt you the way you hurt me. I thought you picked Isadora over me. That you believed in her more than you believed in me."

She knew her next words were absolutely true. As angry as she'd been, as awful as he'd behaved, Farkle just wanted to be heard. "I forgive you."

"That's it?" It was Lucas who said it. "I've tried so hard to get you to even look at me, and just like that, you forgive Farkle? All those awful things he said to you, the way he paraded himself in front of Is? After all that, you can forgive him and not me?"

"I hurt him first. And while he reacted like an asshole, I can still forgive him for that. Not without consequence, of course, because there's a lot of trust lost on both sides, but…. It's a start," she shrugged.

"Unbelievable!" Maya muttered, storming out of the room. Again.


	10. ten

**A/N:** Since I felt so bad about continuously disappearing on y'all, I banged out another chapter(: It's not too long (it's actually incredibly short LOL) but in the grand scheme of the rest of the story, it's the length it needs to be. Hope you enjoy, and don't be too shy to leave a review ^_^

* * *

 _3 Years Ago. Ski Lodge._

Riley was sitting at her temporary bay window with Josh, watching the sky outside transform from the blackest of blacks into combinations of pretty blues and purples over the snow covered landscape. She'd lost track of her friends and classmates and Evan, but only because she was so much more fascinated by her uncle and his burgeoning feelings for her best friend.

"She's still 3 years younger than me, Riles," he was currently explaining to her, clearly trying to prevent the smile on her face from growing. "It'd almost feel like I was dating you."

"Ew."

"Exactly. It's one thing if I were 23 and she were 20, but right now, at your age? I remember what I was like at 14, and believe me, if a 17 year old tried to date me, I'd be confused as hell." He shook his head. "It's just not right."

"So…someday?"

"Someday," he admitted, avoiding her gaze. "But don't tell her that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want her holding on. If Sophie told me that someday might happen back on that subway train the night of your first date, I would've lost sleep. I can't do that to Maya."

She rested her head on his shoulder out of comfort, out of habit, out of love. "I won't do that to her either."

"Even if it meant pulling her away from Lucas?"

Her breath caught in her throat and she gulped. "Even if it meant that."

"Why?"

"If they like each other, I have no right to stand in between them."

"Even if it hurts?"

"Especially if it hurts." And this time, she was confessing, "It hurts a lot." Riley never said those words out loud because, in the grand scheme of everything, what did it matter? If the boy she loved and her best friend - the two people she cared about the most - wanted to be together, there wasn't anything she could do to stop them.

Josh put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulders with meek reassurance. She heard his lips part, he always made a sound when he opened his mouth, but before the words could come to life, she heard Lucas ask, "Excuse me?"

Riley looked up from her uncle's shoulder and Josh patted her on the back before walking away. The butterflies in her stomach awoke, reaching up all the way to the flowers in her heart and lungs. Breathless. That's what she felt whenever he soaked her in, igniting every nerve-ending beneath her skin. Only 14, but in love: she was willing to lose all sense and reason for this boy standing in the doorway, between her and her best friend.

"Lucas, hello."

The blond boy propped himself next to her, back incredibly straight and shoulders squared, and gave her a small smile. "Riley, can we talk?"

"Of course, whatever you want." _I'll give you whatever you want, from the moon to my Maya._

"My favorite thing in this world is when you talk to me."

Her eyes flicked from her hands to his face. "It is?"

"It's okay for you to talk to whoever you want, Riley," he said, chuckling at the sheer surprise on her face, "but the important talks, the ones that we're going to think about an always remember. Can those just be between you and me?"

"Well, I don't know, Lucas," she joked, almost hesitantly, "How could that happen?"

Lucas's eyes were blinding now: she was melting under his steady gaze. "Well, I was thinking that if we were together a little more that you would only talk to other people a little bit and you would talk to me a lot."

"That's what you were thinking?" She said, smiling.

He took her hand. "Yeah, I think about it all the time."

"Me too."

"But we always said that the most important thing was that nobody got hurt."

And then she asked, "Will Maya be okay?"

"She's the one who sent me to you." And suddenly Riley felt her heart stop — _no_ , she felt her heart lurch in her chest, like she was falling and tumbling over a cliff with nothing in sight to grab onto. "Riley?"

"Maya sent you _to me_?"

"She told me to go be with you."

"No." Riley stood up and stepped away, almost tripping over her boot. " _No_."

"Riles?" He got up too and followed her, reaching out to grab her arm to secure her, but she instinctively took another step back. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite read — hurt maybe? "I'm choosing you, I chose you. What's wrong?"

"No. This isn't you choosing me. This is Maya telling you to choose me. It's not the same." Riley's voice went up, echoing throughout the lodge now. She was aware that nearly everyone was watching them, and it made her nervous, but she couldn't care about that. "I wasn't your first choice."

"Honey?"

"Oh great, Maya, you couldn't have picked a more perfect time to show up, as usual."

Maya lifted her hands in self-defense. "What did I do, Riles?"

"What you always do: showing up during the important moments between me and Lucas."

"What?"

"Whenever something big happens, there you are."

"I thought you and I were a package deal, best friends. I thought we were _forever._ "

"Some things are _just_ mine, but that was never enough for you. My bay window, my mom, Lucas. It all needed to be yours if it was mine."

Farkle appeared, putting himself directly between the girls. "Riley, take a deep breath and calm down."

"I'm so tired of always being the one that has to be reasonable and sensical and calm, while Maya gets to do whatever she wants, and no one cares. I have to suffer silently, depressingly, and she gets my family and Shawn, every boy falls for her, every teacher adores her."

"Maya didn't do anything wrong, Riley."

"She rejected Lucas, and once he didn't have a shot with her, he came running back to me."

"You said that to her?" Farkle's voice was getting louder now as he turned angrily to his own best friend.

"What? No. That's not what happened—"

"—That's basically what happened—"

"—All I said was that Maya sent me to her after she asked if Maya would be okay!"

"You idiot!"

"Whoa, Farkle, you need to take a step back from my boy," Zay piped up, his chest puffing out.

"Back off, Zay. This doesn't involve you. But what is wrong with you, Freak Face?" He shouted, walking closer to Lucas in long, easy strides. "You had one job: not to hurt my friends!"

"I- What did Riley tell you? What was she muttering?" he pleaded. "I tried—" But Farkle put his hands up and pushed him against his chest. "What happened to talking it out instead of violence?"

"You moved here," he argued, shoving the blond again, "and you made Riley fall for you," another shove, "and then Maya," a push, "and you tore them apart."

She kept her ground at the bottom of the stairs, but gripped the banister to steady herself, and felt tears forming in her eyes. Maya was across the room now, moving backwards every now and then, avoiding all eye contact and the physical fight in front of them.

Zay easily moved between the two boys, and shouted, "Don't push him, Fark!"

But Farkle lifted his face and swung.

"Oh shit!" Someone from the forming crowd yelped. Zay bounced back and landed a punch right in the middle of the genius's chest. Soon they were tumbling around on the floor and Lucas was barely trying to pull them apart, but she knew what he was really doing. He was trying not to blow up.

Her eyes met her father's as soon as he entered the room and she mouthed, "I'm sorry, Dad." And ran away.

* * *

 _The Next Night. Matthews' Residence._

The next night, she was sitting at her bay window, where everything that reminded her of Maya was finally gone. She never showed up, but Riley didn't make a move either. As far as she was concerned, they were done.

Her phone lit up again; there were dozens of messages and missed calls from Josh and Smackle, a few texts from Zay, and one single 9-minute and 37-second voicemail from Lucas. Farkle had visited her earlier in the day, but she turned him away. How could she even begin to apologize for the damaged friendships he now had to work through because of her? Because he tried to defend her and all she did was run? She couldn't face him, not yet.

Riley grabbed her phone and sunk into her bed, digging into her blankets and pillows, hoping to disappear under the weight of _everything_. And she laid there all night, waiting for the sobs to take over until she felt like her skin was forcibly shed and she was a new person.

But the tears, like Maya, never came.

* * *

 _Some Time Later. Sophie Salazar's House Party._

Here she was at yet another high school party. Riley didn't even have to convince her parents to let her go — they were just excited to see her leaving the house for something that wasn't academic related. Besides, they knew how badly she wanted to make the cheerleading squad. And to do that, she needed to do some serious kissing-up to the current head cheerleader, Sophie Salazar, who was hosting the party, and the next one, Nina Park, who would definitely be there.

At this point though, Riley had a red cup filled with non-alcoholic lemonade in her hand, had already chatted with both girls and a few others from the squad, and felt like a teenage stereotype. The kind that wanted to be anywhere but here.

But then she saw a glimmer of a blond hair in the dark room, bobbing over the heads of the rest of her peers, and her heart skipped. Maybe it'd been the false confidence she gained from drinking out of a typical party cup or the facade she put on when trying to impress Nina and Sophie, but Riley was determined to talk to Lucas tonight.

Until, of course, she saw his arm resting gently (almost lovingly?) around Missy Bradford and witnessed him kissing her. _Shit._

* * *

 _One Week Before Sophomore Year. Matthews' Residence._

There was a knock at her window. Riley jumped at the sound, startled, because even before she started locking it, no one ever knocked. But when she looked over, she saw Isadora Smackle with red eyes and a forlorn expression on her face. And she immediately let her in.

But Smackle didn't say anything, she just sat quietly at the bay window, her eyes puffy and wet. She kept her hands folded in her lap and her knees pressed tightly against each other.

Riley thought she looked like a baby bird trying to hold herself together and after handing her another tissue to wipe her tears, she asked, "Do you wanna talk about it, Smackle?"

The dark-haired genius simply shook her head. "Can you hug me?"

"What was that?" she asked, stunned.

"I need a hug, Riley."

Without pause, she wrapped her arms around her friend, and was reminded of how much she missed _this_. A friend. "What happened?"

"Farkle and I broke up."

 _I thought you two were forever._ "O-oh. What h-happened?"

"This summer apart was the hardest experience in my lifetime. How could the two of us realistically last if being away from each other - each of us achieving our goals and making advancements in the scientific and social communities - was this difficult _and distracting_?"

Riley didn't know how to respond — she didn't have an answer for Smackle. So she continued to hold on to her. For nearly an hour, Isadora never shifted away or asked to be let go. She cried here and there, but never wanted to be released. So Riley held on tight.


	11. eleven

**A/N:** I tried to make all of this as realistic possible. Let me know what you think!

* * *

"Why can you forgive me and not her?" Farkle asked, clearly puzzled for once in his life.

"Because at least you _tried_. It may have been only once, but it happened. After our fight at the ski lodge, Maya never came. She gave up."

"Do you really think—"

"I thought you were listening. You heard her in that video. She said that she gave up on us that very night. The very moment she showed up when Lucas and I were ending things."

"Sugar, you gotta remember: to her, you ended things over a boy."

Isadora came to her defense immediately. "But she wasn't ending things over a boy. She was bringing up a valid point to Lucas that had caused her a year or two of silent suffering.

Lucas looked right at Riley and frowned, but she waved him off. Pretty soon he'll tire of chasing her and he'll be free to pursue anyone he wanted, she thought. "Enough about me and Maya. There's no hope there. Can we just start the next two clips please?"

The little genius obliged, clicking open the next file on his desktop. It was him and Is sitting on the same couch. _How bold_ , Riley thought, curious why Farkle decided to play this one next. " _If it weren't obvious, my dear Isadora Smackle, I'm still in love with you._ "

 _"Of course it's been obvious. I would not have been accepted early into MIT_ and _Harvard if I weren't able to observe, analyze, and make accurate deductions based on human behavior if I didn't already know."_

"You got early admissions into both schools?" Zay exclaimed. "I'm mad proud of ya, Smackle."

Her best friend blushed and looked away humbly — a look that Riley almost didn't recognize.

" _Congratulations, Isadora. There's no one more deserving than you."_

Confidently, Is replied, _"There's you."_

 _"I did not receive admissions to MIT or Harvard. There can only be on super genius in Massachusetts it seems."_

 _"I'm so—"_

 _"Don't be. I was accepted into Columbia, Yale, CalTech, and Princeton. My parents are more than overjoyed."_ Farkle smiled brightly at her. _"As am I."_

 _"Is this our hierarchy then? Because I do sincerely believe that you have excellent achievements and skills that exceed beyond my own."_

 _"We're just the top tier intellectuals at Abigail Adams now."_ Is took his hand and he took a visible gulp, saying, " _I'm sorry for how I behaved. Towards you and Riley, in front of Jamie. I was hurt and I reacted poorly. My behavior was unacceptable."_

She ignored him. " _I was afraid. Deeply, deeply afraid. It was a difficult summer. Far more difficult than Aptus Endosystem's biomedical engineering internship program. But you were in Chicago, accomplishing amazing things with Boeing's aerospace department. I couldn't logically complain. It was everything both of us wanted to achieve. But we weren't together and it bothered me. I didn't know why. But now I know, I was afraid that I was letting our relationship eclipse both of what we wanted in our lifetimes and what that meant when it came to consider universities."_

 _"'There's no room for feelings in science,'"_ he quoted, earning a smirk from her. " _But I understand."_

 _"I'm so sorry, Farkle. I never intended to hurt you."_

 _"That's nothing compared to how much I wanted you to feel the same pain I did. That is unforgivable. And I understand if you can never forgive me."_

 _"I already have, Farkle Minkus."_ Their hands gripped each other tighter. _"Jamie, however, has not. He maybe more difficult to please."_

"Are you guys back together?" Riley shrieked. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I knew you still had issues to process, not to mention Lucas, and I didn't know if you would approve of our renewed relationship."

"You're my best friend," Riley said, "Is, and if he makes you happy, I don't _need_ to approve. But I'm grateful that you considered my happiness before yours in terms of telling me. This is good news! I always knew you two were forever. As much as it hurt me to admit it. But I love you and I love Farkle."

She released Isadora's arm and nudged her to scoot closer to Farkle — the longing between them was clear. Is smiled. "I love you too, Riley."

"But don't think we're not talking about this more one-on-one. I want to know every detail of everything. How you forgave him, how you realized he was still the one…." Riley inadvertently glanced at Lucas who was playing with his pencil.

"And us?" Farkle gestured between the two of them.

"Us too. We've got a lot of work to do when it comes to rebuilding our friendship."

Lucas and Zay, both in their practice uniforms, popped up on the screen, sitting at the Abigail Adams' baseball diamond bleachers. After a solid minute of dead air, with neither boy even trying to make eye contact, Lucas finally took a visible inhale, chest heaving, and asked, " _Alright, how do we start this?_ "

Zay, biting the bullet, asked, _"Why are things so awkward with us?"_

 _"I—"_ The video turned to black.

"What the shit just happened?" Zay exclaimed. Farkle immediately pulled his laptop into his lap and started to run some kind of software on it.

"It's a corrupted video file."

"Damn." Zay looked over at Lucas and said, "Why don't we just summarize what we talked about?"

Riley demanded, "How do we know you're being honest?"

"Because y'all were honest in front of us. Trust me, Sugar."

"In summary, Zay and I decided to work on growing our friendship again. We talked a lot about why we found ourselves drifting, since the two of us didn't really have anything to argue about. And while he didn't admit to me that he felt like he was playing second fiddle to me, I also didn't bring up the Maya of it all."

"If we watched the whole video, something definitely would've felt lacking; as if we were holding back in the conversation the entire time. I guess, we talked about how both of us were interested in heading back to Texas for college and realized we might have to spend a few more years together."

"And that reminded us of our friendship in Texas and New York. We had some good times." Lucas reached out to him and Zay clasped his hand.

"It was a dope friendship, man."

"So that just leaves Riley and Maya's interview," Isadora stated matter-of-factly. "Where is it?"

Riley looked around for the blonde, avoiding eye contact with all of the rest of them, before grimacing. Teeth closed and lips stretched into a semblance of a smile, she confessed, "We didn't do one."

"Why not?" Zay got up and left the room, probably in search of his girlfriend.

"We were going to meet up after the rally, but there was a party and things got a little complicated." They eyed her expectantly. "We tried texting each other but we just never seemed to be at the same place."

"You guys haven't been in the same place since the ski lodge," Farkle pointed out.

"This is our grade," Lucas reminded her. "This is due in two days, on Monday."

"I know! I'm sorry!"

"You'll just have to do it now." It wasn't a suggestion out of his mouth, but a demand. But then Zay reappeared and sullenly revealed, "Either your house is a lot more complicated than I remembered, Fark, or Maya already left."

"Oh great. Thanks Riley."

"What?"

"If you just got the fuck over yourself and forgave her, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"And you're an ass, Lucas. How am I supposed to forgive _you_?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You keep asking me for a second chance. And I desperately want to give you one—"

"Is that so? I clearly knew that from all the running you do—"

"—but how can I when you act like this?"

"Like you're any better!"

"At least I don't —"

"Guys! Shut up!" Zay shouted. "Look I care about both of you. But for fuck's sake. Lucas, you say stupid crap to her _and_ Maya without owning up to anything you did. And when you try to take responsibility for your actions, you seek pity. That's why Farkle tried to fight you, man."

"And Riley," Farkle contributed, "I know I said you made everyone pick sides, and that was wrong. Because truthfully you kept running away. You actively dodged Zay's small offers of friendship, you ran from Lucas every single time he showed back up in your life, and you didn't have an interview with Maya even when it was for school."

They were all standing, staring each other down, but it was really Is, Zay, and Farkle against her and Lucas. Not against, _for._ A renewed friendship.

"I—"

"Me first," she insisted. "You kept wanting to back to where we were, Lucas. Back to a relationship, back to us. There wasn't room for forgiveness or processing or friendship with you. It was always let's get back together and let's start over. But I wanted to move on and forward _because_ of everything."

"Too fast?" he asked.

She lifted her hand and pretended to pinch the air. "A little bit."

"I'm sorry, Riles," his voice was soft and quiet, "I guess I want everything to be instantly back where it was. I saw how you and Zay fell back into old rhythms and I wanted it to look like Farkle and Smackle."

"But that was a lot of processing from both of them to move forward, not back."

"I get that. I just never stopped loving you and prayed that you didn't stop either."

"I'm not in love with you anymore, Lucas, because whoever you are right now might not be the same guy that you were. We don't know who we grew into, who we became, and it terrifies that if we just went back to the beginning…. You wouldn't love who I am today and just keep looking for who I was."

"Yeah, no, that's ex-exactly right. I guess should've been more willing to-to-to…."

"To talk?" Riley offered to him, smiling.

"Exactly." He smiled back. "There's a lot to talk about, isn't there?"

Her heart still fluttered at his words and at the anticipation of what could happen — of what _would_ happen. "So much, Lucas. But also a lot of pain and damage to work on. To forgive."

He knew. "That kiss didn't mean anything, Riley. Missy caught me at a weak, weak point. And I regretted it every night before you told me that you knew."

"It's okay, but I didn't mean that," she said, and it was true. "It's been a long time and I've been foolishly holding on to you and Maya having feelings for each other even if it meant hurting me. You can't control what you feel, only how you act on them. I sucked it up but that just meant a brewing resentment and I'm sorry for that. I should've been honest and open with how I felt. I shouldn't have pushed—"

He was standing in front of her now and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. Against his chest, she whispered, "You should've gotten to choose on your own and I should've said everything I felt."

And then Lucas said what she knew he was going to say: "Tell Maya. Talk to Maya. You and me? We can talk after. Even if it means that we don't go to Homecoming together. Because you need to talk to her."

"But is that so healthy? That I constantly put Maya and me before my individual happiness? Should I really be placing all of my happiness on her? On our friendship?" These were the words that had been weighing down her heart for so long and now? She still didn't if she believed them.

"You'll figure it out. And we will too. Friendship first."


	12. twelve

**A/N:** See? That wasn't too long... This story only has a handful of chapters left, so I hope you enjoy! I have links to the dresses in the Tumblr-published version of the story! (Username: lileystown)

* * *

Podcast #8

" _Tonight's the night, my dear Patriots. After a devastatingly unsurprising forfeit from Channing Yang early this morning, the Homecoming dance is tonight and the crème de la crème of senior girls will be crowned as our queen. Metaphorical, obviously. Even if Queen M is nominated and loses, no one can take that title from her. Not even if the winner is her former best friend and current rival. By the way, did anyone actually see that coming? Matthews over our dear, sweet Sarah Wyatt? People are clearly looking to create an iconic rivalry. Well, here you go, folks: tonight tonight at 8 P.M. half of the old dynamic duo will win._ But what will they lose?"

* * *

Riley and Isadora arrived at the dance together, as they planned. Sarah and the rest of the cheerleaders tried to convince her to get with ready them, but Riley stuck to her guns and insisted she and Is needed each other. Is's hair was half pinned up and carefully curled, and she looked drop-dead gorgeous in a white-and-nude _lacy_ halter dress that they'd found a week before. The back of the dress was held by a few thin straps, which was almost out of her comfort zone, but Isadora rocked it.

Isadora had found the perfect berry pink high-low _dress_ for Riley. She'd said in an exaggerated voice at the mall, "Show off your gams a little! Show 'em why you'll be queen!"

And she left her hair all down, in loose curls, and her eye make-up was bold, complete with a little dangerous winged eyeliner. The pair kept their arms linked, which was basically second nature by now, and walked over to the cheer squad huddling in the corner. Riley gushed, "Hey guys, you all look great."

Sarah, in a high-slit black dress, squealed over the girls, "And you look amazing, Riles! You are so gonna win tonight."

Bashfully, she looked at her nude heels, "No, I have no chance against Channing. You're wearing a two-piece! No one else can pull that off the way you do."

"Oh, thanks, Riles!" Chan gushed. "But I'm not in the running for queen anymore, I had to drop out this morning."

"What?" _Oh no._ "Why? What happened?"

"I want you to win. Not Maya. It needs to be a cheerleader, and we'd split the vote."

"You could've told me," she whined, "I would've dropped out for you."

"Don't be silly, Riley," Rebecca said patronizingly, "everyone wants to see the Great Homecoming Clash between you and Maya. _They want drama._ "

"Yeah, it's like you don't even listen to that gossip podcast that's been going around school. Whoever's behind it is a genius," Sarah said emphatically, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "They've been detailing the feud between your former friends and you for the past two months."

Riley had noticed a recent spike in her hits whenever she talked about her old group of friends, but she didn't make a strong connection until now. It was like her life was a show for them to feed on. "Send me the link later. I'd wanna hear that."

"Yes, of course! As long as you give us the scoop about how you and Zay and Farkle are all friends again before the school gossip finds out and tells everyone."

"Especially if you and Friar get back together." The squad all sighed, swooning at the thought of her and Lucas's reunion. _So weird._

"Yeah, Sarah. You guys are my friends," she sincerely reminded them, "I tell you guys almost everything."

"Operative word being _almost_ , Riles," Chan emphasized. "You haven't told us anything about the advanced government project you're all working on together. And how that's affecting you? We care about you and I know I didn't make much of an effort last week when you were out of it.…"

"It's okay." Riley glanced at Is and then around at her cheer team. Her _friends_. "I'm glad. I love you guys."

The squad and Is stayed in the corner catching up as Riley detailed parts of her conversations with Zay, Farkle, and Lucas until their dates came one-by-one, whisking them away to the dance floor and whatever Top 40 song was blasting from the ballroom's speakers. Right as she was being lead away, Chan leaned to whisper in her ear, "Lucas has been watching you all night. Give the boy a chance."

Lucas, Zay, and Farkle were at the designated snack table, munching on all the free food they could. Sneaking up behind them, Riley lowered her voice and menacingly said, "Think you're eating a bit too much, boys?"

The blond Texan flinched. "Holy shit, Riles!"

"Told you I could be a hoodlum."

"You certainly are." His gaze slowly dropped down, soaking in every aspect of her dress — of her exposed skin. And she reddened. "Y-you look gorgeous."

"Thanks, Friar. You clean up pretty good too." She was about to turn to Farkle and Is, but they had already scurried off to do a slow dance in the middle of the room. "You too, Zay. Where's Maya?"

"You're too sweet, Sugar. Maya's off voting for queen with her art gang. It's just little ole me right now." He tugged at his blazer, fixing it back up, and flashed a smile at her. Zay gestured towards his blonde beauty, who was in _the_ coolest homecoming _dress_ of the night. Maya was wearing a white lace and black slip-layered dress, with thin crossed straps over her bare back. With a wink, he said, "But I'll just let you and Lucas catch up again after this morning."

The boy was gone in a flash and soon it was just her and Friar. But this time she didn't feel like running. She was here with him. "Did you- Did you want to dance?"

Her heart was pounding — she couldn't believe the words spilling out of her mouth. Lucas did a double take and stuttered, "Y-Yeah, I do. _Definitely._ "

Riley took him by the wrist - she wasn't quite ready for holding hands - and led him to the middle of the dance floor. It was a fast song, so they didn't have to touch, but with the surrounding crowd pressed against them, they didn't have much of a choice. She'd rather be uncomfortably close to Lucas than to the grinding, horny teenagers she affectionately knew as her classmates. As they awkwardly shimmied and jumped to the beat together (or rather, bounced in Riley's case), their old friends eventually joined them. _This is nice_ , she thought. It was what she wanted: seeing Lucas in a better perspective without the pressure of him expecting a romantic reunion.

But the music switched and _I Don't Want to Miss a Thing_ trickled into the room, prompting every pair around them to wrap their arms around each other for a close embrace, including Farkle and Is. As much as Riley's heart lifted at the thought of being in Lucas's arms again—

"Riles?" Lucas shouted, breaking her thoughts and the soft rock ballad. "Let's get some punch!"

She followed him off the dance floor, a little disappointed at their short moment. But as they walked towards the refreshments table, she heard a loud voice booming behind her. "What the fuck, Riley?"

A furious queen bee was storming towards them, eye blazing and blonde curls flowing wildly. Maya's hair almost reminded her of Medusa, the way it moved around her head like it was just as angry as the girl it was attached to. But the queen shouted again, "How could you?"

" _Don't wanna close my eyes_

 _I don't wanna fall asleep…"_

The ballad kept booming, but somehow Maya seemed to be louder, like usual. Every student and chaperone stopped moving, all attention directed to her. But it wasn't like she noticed, Riley observed, probably because she was used to it.

"You can forgive him _and_ Farkle, but when it comes to us, I'm not even worth the effort?"

"You gave up on us long before I did, Maya Hart. So you've got a lot of fucking nerve accusing me of treating our old friendship like it was nothing."

"Ever since we started this damn group your dad put us in, you won't even make eye contact with me. You talk to Zay, you hold hands with Smackle, and now you're back together with Friar? How is that fucking fair? Why don't I get something too?"

Riley didn't feel like correcting Maya, especially not in front of the eavesdropping crowds that were all clearly listening in. _Oh Monday was going to be hell._ "Because you never asked. Maya, it's really that simple, okay? You expect everyone to adapt for your needs, to give you what you want, to treat you the way you demand. Shawn and Katy's wedding wasn't about you and yet, it was. Texas should've been about Lucas and Tombstone, but it wasn't. The "triangle" was about you finding yourself, no matter the cost. And when _Lucas chose me_ , it was still about you."

"That's not—"

"You take up too much space, Maya!" She yelled, clearly exasperated. "And that kills me, because you shouldn't have more of my heart than I do."

"You take up so much of my heart too: I told Lucas that he already made a decision and that he should go tell you. That he should get to open up about his feelings and say what he needed to say."

"Yeah, you told him, after you broke me." Riley shook her head in disbelief. "And you never even cared. I admit I pushed you two to try dating and I lied by saying I loved him like a brother, but you were my best fucking friend. I knew how you felt, because _I knew you._ But how did I get away with pretending I felt nothing for Lucas? How did you not know?"

"You can't just expect me to know—"

"But you expected me to know to come running back to you? That you were hurt that I yelled at you for the first time at the ski lodge? What have you ever sacrificed for me?"

Dodging the question, she answered, "At least I don't have to be right all the time! Like you get to fucking be."

"Of course, how could I forget? ' _When being right is more important than being friends, that's the end of being friends._ ' News flash, Maya: you can be right _and_ stay friends. They're not mutually exclusive."

"So what? You get to be right and keep me after yelling?"

She could vaguely hear the chaperones on stage trying to get everyone's attention to announce this year's Homecoming King and Queen. But everyone else knew the important announcements were happening with them. "Yeah, especially if you set precedent by taking what's mine and keeping me around."

"That's it? It's all my fault? You end us, and I'm wrong?" Maya looked around at their sort of mended group. "And let me guess, you're all on her side."

While most of them avoided eye contact with the livid queen, Isadora spoke up first. "Well, Riley did admit that if she had told you the truth from the very beginning, everything else could've been avoided. But you haven't even admitted to doing anything wrong, Maya. And that's not okay."

Zay put his arm around his girlfriend and said, "Babe, I love you. And I'm always with you, even when you're wrong. But look, y'all both need to apologize to each other. Neither of you is blameless."

"Sounds like Riley is."

Slowly, he reasoned, "She already admitted her faults, though that does not excuse her from an apology. You need to do the same, babe."

Maya scowled, clearly ignoring him, and spat, "So Riley's the hero and I'm the villain. That's how this ends?"

"Stop being the victim, Maya. Grow up."

She wasn't sure who said it (okay, it definitely wasn't Is), but she regretted it for them. Maya's face crumbled, causing her own heart to drop into dark nothingness.

"No."

"Maya—" she started to say, but was interrupted by the chaperones on stage who finally managed to get the crowd's attention.

"Abigail Adams Patriots, please. Please give me your attention so we can re-announce your Homecoming King and Queen. Zay Babineaux and Riley Matthews. Congratulations!"

The cheerleaders erupted with applause and screams and helped usher Riley and Zay away from their shattered friend group and drama. The first chaperone - Riley never caught their names - placed the sash over her shoulder and the crown on her head, careful not to muss up her hair, as the second crowned Zay king. "You may dance with each other or with your dates now."

As Zay took her hand and guided her off the stage, Riley said, "You should dance with Maya."

Silently he agreed and took off towards her. As she watched their arms instinctively wrap around each other, she realized the rest of her peers were watching her and she remembered that she'd arrived without a date. Well, with Is, but that probably didn't count since she'd been attached to Farkle all night. Riley was about to step away but Farkle popped up next to her and offered his arm. "Lucas was debating whether he should save you again, like he did at the rally, but before I made a decision before he could."

"Do you think we're being too hard on Maya?" She blurted. Farkle put her hand on his shoulder and gently led her in a waltz.

"No. You were right. She takes up so much and expects us to fall in line like the rest of her court. She's always expected us to make room for her and let her do things her way. And we let her, because we love her."

 _Because we love her._ Of all the things said tonight, that rang the truest. Her heart would always be open for Maya — it was just a matter of making sure her own heart was taken of too. How could she love someone else so deeply if she couldn't love herself first?


	13. thirteen

**A/N:** Hey guys, I'm not too sure where I want to end the story. Do I write a few more chapters that show the rebuilding of the friendships? Do I end it soon with a flash-forward epilogue where I see the gang at the end of the school year? Do you want a sequel? Let me know your thoughts!

* * *

Podcast #9

 _"And what will the kingdom do without their queen? Crumble or rise from the ashes?"_

* * *

Every time someone moved or spoke or dropped their pencil on the floor, the whole room shifted in discomfort. Her dad's questions often went unanswered, even when she knew Isadora and Farkle knew exactly what to say. It was Thursday morning — four days since the dance. And Maya was still absent. Her mop of long blonde hair had been noticeably absent on Monday, and Riley assumed it was because she didn't want to see her former friend wearing the crown and sash, as per school tradition. But when she didn't show up the next day or the day after, the Abigail Adams kingdom grew tense.

Lunch, Riley's former solace, was the height of all tension: the entire school's eyes were on her. She'd been sitting with the cheerleaders, allowing Is and Farkle to disappear from campus for their extraordinary college courses, and vehemently avoiding eye contact with Zay and Lucas.

Of course she wanted to acknowledge the strides she'd made in the last week, avoiding avoidance, but she and Maya needed to figure out how to have a healthy relationship before they forgave each other. And she needed to forgive Maya before seeing where things went with Lucas. But she couldn't do that if Maya didn't show up to school. It was a long list of interconnected struggles that pushed her to the breaking point. _Not to mention college application deadlines coming up._

"Riley?" Her dad murmured knowingly.

"Yes, Dad?"

"The bell rang. Class is over."

She looked around the room in surprise. But instead of packing up her bags, she asked, "How did you and Uncle Shawn keep things healthy? Y'know, without being so codependent to the point of losing yourself?"

"How did we keep our own identities without compromising our friendship? You do things for yourself that will keep you happy and healthy and you do things for them that don't compromise too much on that." He paused, and elaborated, gently cupping the back of his daughter's head, "You choose the best college for you to attend, but you'll consider staying close to home to keep your mom and me happy. It's not always black and white, though, Riley."

"Thanks, Dad." She smiled at him and practically bounded towards the doorway, stopping herself short. "Has she been coming to breakfast?"

Her dad's eyebrows furrowed together, before he retorted, "If she had, don't you think she'd be in class by now?"

The group was waiting outside for her, even though the bell had already rung for their next classes. "What are you guys doing?"

"Waiting for you, Riles."

"Why?"

"You're boutta ditch school to go find Maya," Zay guessed. Accurately. "And I know where to look."

Lucas dug his hands deep into his pockets. "I've got the car."

"And we have enough clout with the administration to make it a formal and legitimate absence," Is reminded her. "We're going with you."

Before she could disagree, Zay added, "Whether you like it or not, Sugar."

The five of them ditched their bags in their lockers, signed off with the front desk secretaries, and strode to Lucas's car. Riley knew that the streets wouldn't be too crowded at this time of day, especially if Zay was right about where Maya was. "A neat little pocket park tucked away behind a brown rotting brick building" — she knew exactly what Zay was describing as they drove out of the school parking lot. That brown building had moss tangled on its sides and at least a few bricks reinserted with secret messages behind them.

"It was ours and Farkle's old elementary school," she explained to Is and Lucas. "I didn't even know she still went there."

"I think she was so afraid of running into you that she made it her new safe space."

"That's why she came over every morning for breakfast with my parents?"

"I didn't say she was good at it."

"Make a right here and park. We're gonna have to squeeze past that gate to get in."

"It's propped open," Farkle noted. Zay shot them a knowing look. _Told you._ _Like I didn't believe you._ "Shall we?"

Riley slipped in first and Maya was there. She was perched on the cracked stone table with a sketchbook in her lap. As Riley's foot stepped on moss and leaves, a soft crunch occurring every so often, the Queen never even glanced up. Maya only twitched at each sound. Instead of walking towards her, Riley deliberately walked to the brick wall, lightly tracing it with her fingertips before finding a loose brick right at her hip. She tugged it out and reached in, finding a thin and wrinkled piece of paper. Her friends were watching her, their gazes felt heavy against her skin, especially Lucas's. Riley read, " _Today, Tony Peters tried to hold my hand. I punched him in the face. Maya._ "

She laughed to herself before turning around to look at them. "I remember laughing, even though it wasn't nice, because it takes a lot of courage to confess your feelings for someone. But I laughed, because how could Maya ever hold hands with someone who had two first names as their whole name?"

Farkle chuckled. "I remember that. We were 9. I threatened to punch him too."

"Of course you did, Farkle." She added, "You loved us. We weren't his to touch."

"What made you change your mind for me then?" Lucas asked, sitting down on the bench next to Maya's table. Her eyes stayed on her pencil, even when Zay slid next to her and immediately placed his hand on her back. He was careful not to move her — clearly something he'd done before.

"You were my best friend. And I saw how she looked at you."

"And Maya?" Zay wanted to know.

"She was confused and at that point, I realized that I didn't have a say in who liked them. Anyway, Riley pushed them together." He slung his arm around Is and Riley smiled. A genuine smile that consumed her entire face. They really were forever. "Zay, I'm sorry about punching you."

"I'm sorry too, man. We lost a few good years there."

He turned to Lucas. "You really were my best friend. And to see all three of you hurting that night at the ski lodge, I lost it. And I'm sorry about that too."

"It's okay. I forgave you right away. I just knew that Zay might not've been able to. You did sucker punch him," Lucas said, with a laugh. They all laughed. Except Maya.

"I'm not okay with this," she said, cutting in. "Riley got mad and tore us all apart. And for two and a half years, she doesn't do a thing. I went to breakfast everyday hoping you would stop being mad at me. I told Shawn and my mom to get you a camera for your birthday because I knew your last one broke. I told them again to get you a mic that attached to your laptop when you started that stupid podcast, because I knew it was you. I always knew. I'm fucking sorry for being stubborn."

"What?"

"But I can't fucking stand that just because you batted your eyelashes and finally apologized for hurting all of us, everyone decides to fall back in line. Because you always get to be right. Every fucking time."

"Maya—"

"No, no. You broke me that night when you pushed me away. I'm sorry, okay? I thought I was doing the right thing and I'm sorry for butting into your life and getting invasive. I'm sorry I wanted it to be about me. I wanted what you had and that doesn't make it right. But you had everything a little girl should have." Maya tucked her hair behind her ear. "You got the perfect family, the perfect boy, and the best of friends who would _die for you._ "

"All of us here would've done the same for you, Maya. Please stop making this about you. I'm sorry I didn't realize that all of these things were your ways of apologizing. I should've opened my eyes but please, can you also admit it too?"

She shook her head. "No you wouldn't. That was clear at the dance. Even when you were wrong, everyone here fought for you. And when I'm stubborn, they turned against me. And I hate that."

Riley couldn't bear to look at her anymore, the tears were welling up and she knew it was only a matter of moments before they fell and crashed against her heart.

"I hate that I'm the bad guy. I hate that you made me the bad guy. I hate all of you." The world was quiet. "I hate you because you get everything you want. The family, the grades, the friends, the boy. Even my boyfriend is on your side."

Without even looking at her, Riley knew Maya had curled her lips into a scowl. "But the thing I hate the most is that I don't hate you."

No one said a thing, but she didn't have the strength to even look at them. To see how her friends were feeling. But Lucas sighed. "So what? We're all on the same side but we're not?"

"She said—"

"Zay loves her. He'd stay by her side," Lucas reasoned, "but we can't really be on the same side if we're split like this."

When no one replied, he decided, "Time to go. I'll drive us back."

Is and Farkle followed him obediently and Zay pressed a kiss to Maya's temple before jogging over to the gate. He knew she still needed time to herself. But when Riley got up, she didn't go after them. She sat on the table with her former best friend, her body turned away from her though.

"I don't hate you either," she admitted. "I don't even dislike you. Or blame you."

Maya didn't speak or move. "I didn't mean to turn them all against you. In fact, aside from Is, I thought they'd spent this entire time on your side. Defending you. Because you were smarter, and prettier, and funnier. Because you were always better. The better choice. Who would choose meek and naive Riley Matthews when they could have sexy, suave Maya fucking Hart?" Tears fell down her cheek but she kept going. "I always believed in you and your magic, Maya. For once, I wanted you to believe in mine and see that I was lying to everyone. I thought you would see my heart for what it was."

She found herself touching her shoulder against Maya's. "You wanted what I had? You wanted my family? You wanted my life? No, because you were my life. You were my family. You were my sister!"

"You were my sister," Maya murmured softly. "I didn't want to believe that you lied to me and got away with it. I didn't want to believe that I didn't know you well enough to see through you. I didn't want to believe that I hurt you, that I was selfish. You were my sister and I fucked up. How do I come back from that?" She rested her head on the brunette's shoulder and she was shaking. Crying. "I don't deserve to."


	14. fourteen

**Author's Note:** I've definitely been in a rut lately and I didn't want to leave you hanging, so here's just a little something something. :)

* * *

"Riley? Are you already gone?" Her mother asked through her door.

"Nope! I'll be down in a minute."

"Oh," she could hear the surprise in Topanga's voice, "okay. Should I set a plate for you today?"

This time it was Riley who flustered. Yes, she didn't set her alarm as early as she usually did, but she hadn't planned on having breakfast. Her and Maya weren't healed yet - she wasn't sure if they ever would be. But maybe it was worth a try to coexist in the same room. Maybe it was time to ensure they wouldn't be at war anymore. They'd already said goodbye to being like the American and Canadian government alliances; now it was time to say goodbye to being like the American and Russian government animosity. To be at ease with one another. It was a nice thought. "Yes, please. If that's okay."

"It's more than okay, Riley." Her mother tapped on the door one more time. "I love you."

She heard the front door open, and Uncle Shawn's enthusiastic voice, and quickly threw on her cheer uniform. I _can do this_ , she repeated to herself as she brushed her hair, I can do this. All Riley had to do was go downstairs, get past the initial awkwardness between her parents and Shawn and Katy and Maya, crack a few jokes about cheer, and eat that delicious bacon she could smell all the way in her room. She finished tying her white cheer sneakers, smoothed out her pleated skirt, and mustered up enough old-Riley perkiness to bounce out of her room.

"Uncle Shawn! Katy!" They warmly embraced her, despite Shawn's initial hesitance. Though, that might've had more to do with the cheer uniform than her presence. That's what I'll tell myself.

"Riley, you always look so adorable in your uniform! But where's the big white bow?" Katy asked, reaching out to play with her brown hair.

"I only wear those for football games. And since our team is already out from the State Championship play-offs, I don't have to wear the goofy stuff anymore."

"Then what's the occasion today?"

"Oh, on one Friday a month, the squad likes to do cheers in the courtyard. Tradition," she shrugged.

"Also gives the students a reason to hate the cheer squad even more," Maya cheekily replied as she sauntered into her old best friend's apartment.

"Maya," Katy warned, giving her daughter a pointed look.

"I know, I know. When we're at the Matthews' I'm supposed to pretend that I'm a perfect angel," she said sweetly. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, Auggie, and Riley."

"Hey, Maya," Riley replied softly. The whole room went quiet — she hadn't been exactly open with her parents about everything going on with her and her friends and knew that Maya probably hadn't either. Although, she suspected her dad was aware of the diminishing number of glares that occurred between them all during his class. "Ready to eat?"

Riley took the seat next to her dad's spot at the head of the table, across from the blonde queen. He blessed the meal with a short prayer and launched to his ritual: he sang his potato songs and doused everything edible in ketchup. Katy, Shawn, and Maya squished onto bench, with the former two making repeated eye contact with each other and nervous smiles plastered on their faces.

"Are you two okay?" Topanga asked immediately. "You look weird."

"We just have some exciting news for everyone!"

Maya looked over at her mother in surprise — it was clear that whatever her parents were about to share was completely new to her as well.

Uncle Shawn wrapped his arm around Katy and exclaimed, "Katy's pregnant! I'm gonna be a dad…again!"

"That's great news, Shawny!" Her parents congratulated them, pulling them up out of their seats and laughing. "Incredible news!"

But Riley really only noticed that their daughter stayed seated, and recognized the crestfallen look in her eyes. Maya tried to form a smile on her lips to congratulate her parents with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, but even if Riley didn't know who she was now, she saw how much it hurt.

"That's amazing, Mom. It's a miracle right, since you're so old," she joked.

"Hush now, baby girl. I'm 37 so we just have to be extra careful."

"You're that much younger than Shawn?"

Before her husband could counter, Katy added, "And before you start worryin', just remember, you're just as much Shawn's as this little boy is going to be."

"A boy?" _Just like me,_ Riley couldn't help but think. _She really does get what she wanted after all: my family._ She tried to shake the thought as soon as it came to her.

"I can teach him how to be the man of the house, like I am," Auggie concluded, gaining a chuckle out of everyone. "What? I am!"

Sensing Maya's discomfort, Riley finished munching on her bacon and thoughtfully said, "Congratulations again, you guys. I'm so so so happy for you! But we should head to school now, our group is meeting up a little earlier to review the deliverable for our _Advanced Comparative History_ class that Dad is _so_ un-qualified for."

"Uncalled for!" Her dad exclaimed defensively. "True, but uncalled for."

Thirty minutes and one uncomfortably silent train ride later, the pair of old friends arrived at the gates of Abigail Adams High together — for the first time in three years. Everyone's eyes were on them as they walked into the tiny courtyard, careful not to accidentally brush arms against each other. Riley realized they probably looked even more ridiculous not looking at each other than actually being next to one another. She turned to Maya and quietly gathered enough courage to ask, "Are you okay? With y'know?"

"Yeah, I'm happy for them." She flipped her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "They're getting what they've always wanted."

"How could you think that, Maya? They're adding more to what they already have and love. They—"

"I'm not enough for them," she replied simply.

"Trust me, you are more than enough," Riley insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Maya grinned. "You've got a lot more bite in your words since the ski lodge, you know that right?"

She shrugged. "It's like Is said, I had to toughen up after everything happened."

"Whatever the reason, I like it."

"I always knew you would." The girls looked shyly away from each other. "So you and Zay?"

"Right…" Maya answered hesitantly, "sometimes I forget we never talked about it. But it happened during sophomore year: we were project partners in English and we started dating the summer after. You and me were…you and me. Smackle and Lucas both shut me out and eventually, Farkle and I fell out of touch. Zay…he became my lifeline that year."

"You love him."

She looked down at her feet and smiled softly. _Maya Hart, softie._ "I do. You and Lucas?"

"We're not much of anything right now."

"Do you think you'll ever—"

 _This is too much. Too soon._ "I don't know. I don't even know if I can talk to _you_ about this yet. I'm sorry."

Maya lifted a hand. "Don't apologize. I get it. It's okay."

And then Riley did something unexpected: she hugged her old best friend despite all of their classmates' eyes on them, despite everything, and said, "We'll work on it."


	15. fifteen

**A/N:** That wasn't too long of a wait, was it?

* * *

She hated to admit it, but her dad was right: those who didn't learn from history were doomed to repeat it. _He can never know_ , she thought, but here they were once again crammed around the same tiny table they'd found themselves at the beginning of the semester. Which was only like six weeks ago. _Crazy._

And the tension was running high: either from the cramped space or their last encounter at the playground. Riley herself was willing to work through the everything with Maya and ease the strained relations, but it was suffocating. She was suffocating.

But then Maya put words to Riley's thoughts: "It's ridiculous. How is a 'Top Ten High School' not able to afford large enough tables to accommodate all the group projects they shove into our curriculum each year?"

"At least the AC is working this time," Lucas said through practically clenched teeth. She giggled. "What?"

Despite them all knowing the real reason for his strained behavior, she said, "It's just funny that you're having a difficult time showing your appreciation. Ya know, since you're the true hero of Abigail Adams."

Everyone eventually cracked a smile. Zay first, then Farkle, the girls, and, then finally, Lucas.

"Finally!" Zay cheered, clapping on his own. "I was starting to think we didn't actually have a breakthrough and it was all just emotions running high and whatnot."

"It still could be," Is pointed out. When he shot a glare a her, Is backtracked. "Although, I'm quite hopeful that it was sincere and that good changes are coming to our group once again."

"Stranger things have certainly happened," added Farkle, who reached gently for Is' hand. She squeezed his in response, a small smile falling onto her lips. But then Is recalled where they were and quickly retracted, but her eyes never left her boyfriend.

"Certainly, my beloved."

"Not to interrupt this absolutely precious moment — in fact, I've sort of been dying waiting for you to call him some kind of endearment again — but what else is next on the list for the project?"

"Studying the social environments we each exist in and analyzing how they interact."

"But it's the longest portion of the project: we've got until the end of the semester to work on it," Lucas sighed. "Along with all of our college applications…. For those of us who did not get the system to bend the rules and allow multiple early admissions."

"How did that happen anyway? You're only supposed to apply to one school for early admission."

"They reached out to us," the super intelligent couple chirped.

"Although, I have made a decision about where I will be attending next fall," Is said, a bright smile on her face. "I've accepted MIT's offer to study biomedical engineering as well as neurobiology."

"That's amazing, my dearest Smackle," her boyfriend congratulated her, wrapping his arm tightly around her. _He's so proud._

"And do you know where you're going, Farkle?"

"My dad is insistent on Princeton, or even Yale. But I'm heavily leaning towards Columbia." He glanced at Is. "It's a logical decision for me. While Princeton and Yale both have better astrophysics programs, Columbia's is still well regarded as well as an incredible medical research program I can participate in." He squeezed her best friend's hand. "And I love New York — it's only a 4 hour bus ride to Boston."

"That sounds amazing!" Maya squealed. "You guys are so kickass, I love it."

"What about you? Where have you been applying?" Riley asked sincerely.

"My top choices are NYU and Rhode Island School of Design. I've been working on the last few pieces for my portfolio and I think I have a good shot." She nodded at back at her. "Columbia still the dream?"

"Yep. Stanford was also a top choice, but I recently did some research on UChicago's political science stuff and it looks really cool."

"You gonna be a cutthroat lawyer?"

"I want to go into legal advocacy to help the disenfranchised and those in need. I need a great understanding of the law and how systematic oppression works, plus Chicago isn't that bad of a plane ride away."

"That's really cool," Maya smiled. "How are vet school applications, Ranger— Lucas?"

"Technically, it's animal sciences for now. Vet school comes later," Lucas explained. "UC Davis and Cornell were easy applications, surprisingly, but Texas A&M is proving to be a little finicky."

"Ain't that the truth," Zay agreed. "A&M and NYU apps are kicking my ass. But their pre-business programs are beyond worth it."

"You are gonna do just fine, Z," the blonde beauty chirped, pinching her boyfriend's cheek. "You're one of the smartest guys I know. Present company notwithstanding."

Riley gazed at them. Friends wasn't the right word, but former enemies didn't work either. They were something, big and unnamed. Their future together was daunting. Is was right: if the repairs they made weren't sincere, they wouldn't make it past the summer.

But she knew that, she always knew that some of the repairs would take more effort. Friendships like hers and Maya's or even whatever Lucas wanted to be. _But what about the rest of them?_

"Riley?" Is's voice broke through her thoughts. "What are you thinking?"

She didn't mean to ignore Is when she replied, "Farkle? Why did you and Maya stop being friends?"

"We danced around it, didn't we?" Maya murmured. Riley didn't mean to dampen the mood but she needed to know.

"It didn't feel right. To be friends without you."

"Not in the same way that Lucas and I blamed each other for our loss of you. But—"

"Don't get us wrong," Farkle warned, "Maya and I don't need you. We don't need you to survive. You're not the critical part to our own friendship. But—"

"You were an important piece. We don't make sense without all of us, all six of us. It's like losing a limb: we can move on, but something will always be gone."

"You and Smackle proved that friendships can be built amongst broken ones; Maya and I just couldn't."

She nodded fiercely, completely understanding of their words. Her treatment of her friendship with Zay was nearly identical: it would've been incomplete without them all. This was what they needed to do all along — communicate honestly. A small part of her couldn't help but wonder if this was her father's goal with his assignment. _But even he couldn't have known we'd all take Advanced Gov._ She declared, "We need a change of scenery. Why don't we go to Farkle's, if you'll have us?"

"Are-are you sure?" The memories of their last encounter at his parents' home flashed in her brain — something she could only assume was happening in everyone else's minds too. But the Minkus' home was the safest bet. The library was ineffective, Topanga's too public, and the bay window far too soon.

Riley smiled. "Yeah, Farkle, let's go. We're getting nothing done at this tiny table."

"The size of this table is potentially the cause of our aggression from that first meeting," Isadora surmised. But she could tell her best friend was talking out of her ass and barely controlled the giggles bubbling up.

They stood, hurriedly putting their things away. It was comforting, though, knowing they were all headed in the same direction together.

* * *

"Welcome back to the Minkus residence!"

"I thought it was Minki?" Maya joked as they crossed through the foyer. Lucas and Zay, and Maya and Is headed straight towards the living room, but Riley lingered behind.

"Farkle," she started, "I'm sorry."

He crinkled his eyebrows. "What for?"

"I know we said we already forgave each other, but I wanted to actually apologize. So that you know I mean it. I want us to be friends again — and not just because you're with Isadora. Because I've missed you."

"I know. I was a jerk to both of you and when Smackle forgave me, I couldn't believe it. I felt so underserving," he replied, "but whatever happened between me and you, it was bad. After years of friendship, with no major fight or anything, it was over and I didn't think it was something I could ever come back from."

Riley pulled him into a hug. He asked, "So are you going to give Lucas a second chance too now?"

It was her turn to crinkle her eyebrows. "Yeah, it's like I said, I want us to start again from friends."

"Come on, Riles, you and Lucas were never meant to be just friends. You two were meant to be forever." He winked at her and led her into the living room to the rest of their friends.

They pulled out all of their homework and got straight to work, trading notes and asking their resident geniuses for help in all their other classes. _This is so much better_ , she thought as she grabbed Maya's notes from Advanced Environmental Studies with a thankful smile. Maya's eyes softened at the silent exchange which made Riley smile a little harder.

But their moment was disrupted when Lucas nudged her in her side and gestured towards the kitchen with his head. Quietly, she stood with him, but then asked, "Do you guys want water? Lucas and I can grab some for y'all."

"Sure thang, cowgirl," Maya teased, causing Riley to playfully squint back at her.

Riley followed Lucas to the kitchen with their friends' eyes still on their retreating backs. He grabbed cups from the cabinets as she scooped ice out of the icebox in the freezer. "It's funny how it feels so natural, doesn't it? Even though I haven't been here like this in years."

"Definitely. Though it helps that they haven't changed a thing," she chuckled.

"Listen, Riley. I want you to know that I heard what you said last week about us starting new. I want that for us too. So I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?"

"I'd like to take you out tomorrow. It can be dinner or a study session at the public library or ice cream down the street from the tutor center. It could be a fresh start" She kept her back to him, staring straight into the freezer. When she didn't move, he said, "We don't even have to call it a date, if that's not something you want."

Not a single word came to her. "Riley?"

This was what she wanted, wasn't it? A fresh start — with him.

"Riley? Can you hear me?" He put his hand on her shoulder. Riley bit her lip but couldn't get herself to turn to him. "I, uh, I'll be right back."

As soon as his footsteps disappeared, she closed the freezer door and lifted a hand to her cheek. Riley realized she'd been holding her breath, not to mention ice-cold, and exhaled, when Maya walked in. She was without her usual swagger, instead she moved timidly, a sight Riley had barely seen since they were little. "Riley, are you okay?"

She shook her head in response. "He asked me out. Kind of. It's up to me to decide if I want that."

"Of course it's up to you, Riles."

"But it's so much pressure."

"It sounds like he understands where you're coming from." Maya took a few steps closer to her old best friends. "But what are you afraid of?"

"Getting hurt again?" She and Maya sat on the counter stools. "We're not the same people we were. What if he doesn't like who I am now?"

"What if you don't like who he is?"

"Of course I'll like who he is, Maya. He's barely changed. But I'm..I'm so different."

"Yes, he's not so different that he still only has eyes for you, but he's changed a lot. And if you took the time to get to know him, you'll see that. I can't promise you'll like him, but it's a start, right?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Unless there's another reason you wouldn't want to try a fresh romantic relationship with him."

"We're not Isadora and Farkle. We're not Cory and Topanga."

"No, you're Riley and he's Lucas. You won't have the same relationship that your parents have, you can't hope to be as awesome together as Zay and I are," she joked. That managed to get a laugh out of Riley.

"We're us. We do what we do." Riley rested her head on Maya's shoulders and Maya lifted her hand and gently rubbed Riley's cheek. "Thank you, Maya. When'd you get so good at this?"

"I learned how to listen when I didn't have my best friend talking my ear off," she said, prompting a series of giggles from both of them. After several minutes, Maya finally broke through their laughter and suggested, "I'll go get Lucas for ya, is that okay?"

Riley simply nodded. When he came back into the kitchen she quickly apologized. "I'm so sorry about that, Lucas. I just completely froze. I didn't know how to process what you were suggesting."

"No, I get it, Riley. You don't want to go out with me. We're never happening again and that's fine. I just needed some closure on us to finally be able to move on."

"Lucas, I think we should go out on a date. We'll do something low-key, nothing dramatic. No pressure."

"But—"

"We'll do this our own way." _We do what we do._ With a wink, she added, "But we're definitely getting ice cream."


	16. sixteen part one

**Author's Note:** Yep, you read that right! I wanted to write one really long chapter for y'all, but decided to break it up into 2 parts so that I could get the chapter count on FF to 20 (including that author's note interruption). So...here ya go!

* * *

Riley was nervous the entire next day at school. She spent all her time tugging at her cheer skirt or playing with her fingers, or even smiling too much when the squad peppered her with questions about her and Lucas. Sarah did her best fending off the wolves, but it simply wasn't enough. The whole school was waiting in anticipation. She'd been so nervous that she forgot to record her weekly podcast — this would've been the highlight of her secret series.

She closed her locker at the start of lunch, having already confirmed with Is about their plans with Sarah and Channing to help her get ready after practice. All at once, her book bag slipped from her shoulder, the weight swinging uncomfortably, and as she tried to pick up the falling pieces, Riley felt her skirt starting to ride up.

"Let me help you with that," Lucas chuckled, already bent over and picking up her notebooks from the floor.

"You are my hero," she said breathlessly. He had a small smile that only grew wider and wider, hair tousled from running his fingers through it too many times, and her heart skipped. He was looking at her the way he'd always had: it was the look she kept running from anytime he wanted to make amends. This time, there was nowhere to go. This time, she didn't want to leave.

"Glad to be the hero again and not the villain."

"Oh, Lucas—" she started.

He shook his head and stopped her mid-apology. "Don't worry about that. Do you wanna eat lunch with me and Zay today? I know you usually eat with the cheerleaders, but I just thought I'd ask."

"Is this, like, a pre-date?"

Her heart sung at his laugh. "That wasn't my intention, but if we're doing what we do, then yes."

"I'd love to." She bit her lip as she smiled up at him, causing her cheeks to start to hurt. Lucas tilted his head towards the cafeteria and they walked side-by-side, ignoring the looks and stares of their fellow Abigail Adams Patriots. "Fin's being doing great on the squad, in case you didn't know."

"Oh, I've heard. A lot. Thanks for looking out for her."

"How's Dawn been doing? I don't get to see her as much," Riley softly admitted.

"Pretty good too! She's actually become good friends with Jamie and Zay's younger brother Simon."

"Wow, the baby versions of us are forming their own special friend group," she cooed.

"When you put it like that, it's a little weird," he replied, smirking, "but yes. It's kind of adorable. The next generation."

They set their lunch trays on the table, both flanking Zay, and smiled. Zay peered up at the pair and squinted. "Why are y'all so cheery?"

"It's just a good day," Lucas shrugged.

"This is because of your date," he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.

Riley immediately blushed. "And because I found out a group of younger siblings are banding together and forming their own friendships and bonds."

"Simon and the twins have known each other forever, and he's been close with Jamie since most of their classes are together. It's nice seeing them all get together." Zay took a bite out of his sandwich. "What are y'all doing tonight?"

Lucas answered, "It's a secret," right as Riley mumbled, "He refuses to tell me."

"Oh, so it's one of those nights," Zay winked, prompting her to blush again. But the moment Lucas met her gaze, she felt her breathing hitch and her mind flooded with thoughts she didn't think she was capable of having in public. Riley knew that Lucas wouldn't plan for _that_ on their first date, despite what Zay thought, and yet, here she was, thinking about _it_. She thought about it plenty - whoever said girls didn't was a filthy liar - especially once she started picturing their first kiss. They had years of conflicts sitting between them and their last, and maybe only a handful of hours before she got a chance to feel his lips on hers again. Lucas had experience, and while she had significantly less, she had some too. There were the handful of forced goodnight pecks after failed first dates with an assortment of jocks and student government types, but nothing that ever made her blood boil. Nothing like what she hoped she still had with the gorgeous boy she longed for for so many years.

"Shut up, Zay," she giggled, before diving into her meal.

* * *

"He asked me in the kitchen and after some deliberation, I said yes." Riley actually said yes to him. With a wink. She tried to remember the last time she was ever that straight forward with Lucas. "But somehow I've found confidence in the past few weeks. How did that happen?"

Channing, Sarah, and Is were crowded on her bed after practice, listening to her every word about her pending date with Lucas. It was a quite a sight, seeing some of the smartest, most beautiful, and most wildly confident girls looking at her in awe and excitement. Sarah smiled brightly and said, "It pains me a lot to say this on a bunch of levels, believe me, but you and your friends are back together. Strong and healthy friendships like that can help build confidence."

"Does it pain you because of your competition with Maya in the school's social hierarchy or because of your friendship with Riley?" Is asked without missing a single beat.

Sarah grimaced a little, and the rest of the girls giggled. "Both. I tried to be there for you but it wasn't meant to be."

"You guys were right at the dance," Riley conceded, "y'all were there for me when the rest of them hurt me. They took away my confidence."

"And optimism," Channing chimed. She recoiled at Sarah's glare. "What? It's true. Do you remember that practice after the Fall Ball nominees were announced? Riley, you were incredibly tired and- and sad.…"

"What she means is, will this be a strong and healthy friendship? I'm glad that being surrounded by your old friends is giving you confidence, but I also want you to be careful."

Is agreed. "As wonderful as it has been to be reunited with my beloved, our conversations were rooted in moving forward and forgiveness. As well as the promises to be honest and selfless."

These girls loved her so much, that was clear. And she'd ignored two of them for the better part of the semester. "Maya and I are in a place to start over. I'm hopeful for our friendship, but I know, reasonably, that it won't look like the first 7 years. And with Lucas…."

"Look at that smile, girls!" Sarah squealed.

She playfully hit her with a pillow. "With Lucas, it could definitely be something new."

"Just promise us one thing."

"Sure, anything."

"Don't forget about us."

"Never." Riley reached over and squeezed both the cheerleaders' hands and smiled. "Besides, you guys are supposed to be helping me get ready right now."

With a gleeful squeal, Sarah jumped off the bed and ran into the closet, crying out, "So you still don't know where you're actually going?"

"I can't tell if that's inconsiderate or romantic."

"Definitely romantic," Channing swooned.

Is crossed her legs crossed as she dug through the pile of skirts the four of them had thrown on to the bed earlier and agreed. "I believe it's best for you to go with dressy casual. What if he takes you go-kart driving? You don't want to be in a nice dress for that."

"Point noted," Riley nodded. Channing guided her over to her desk for make-up prep. With a light swipe of mascara, she thanked all of them. "Thank you guys so much for helping me tonight."

"Stop moving," Channing commanded, smirking as she worked on the nervous girl's eyeliner. "Of course we'd help you, the cheer squad has been rooting for you and Lucas since day one."

"How have you guys all been so sure when I didn't know myself?"

"Because even when you weren't speaking, when you kept running away from it all, you always turned back to look at him. You wanted to forgive him a long time ago."

"Then why did it take so long?"

Sarah, with a black blouse in her hands, said, "Because he finally grew some balls, owned up to his faults, and became deserving of your forgiveness."

"That," Channing agreed, laughing, "and because you needed to reclaim your identity."

Behind them, a voice said, "You needed to become Riley. Not just Riley and Maya."

Riley was surprised to see a beautiful mop of blonde hair sticking through her bay window and started to tear up. Two years, seven months, and a handful of weeks — that was how long it'd been since Maya last came through that window.

Clenching her jaw, Sarah asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you supposed to be kissing up to me so that I can hopefully pick one of your minions to be queen next year?" Maya fully climbed in and sat down.

"We're not on your turf right now, we're on Riley's." They stared each other down, neither looking ready to break first.

Channing continued on with her makeup and whispered, "You okay?"

"It's been awhile," she admitted, blinking away the tears. "But I will be." Without moving to look at her, Riley added, "Maya, what are you doing here?"

"I came for support," she confessed, pursing her lips. "I thought it'd only be you and Smackle."

"She invited us and _Is_ over the phone last night."

"Right, I clearly didn't know that."

"Why would you?"

"Sarah," Is warned. "Remember what we all spoke about not five minutes ago?"

The head cheerleader sighed, and Riley knew she was probably relaxing her arms and shoulders and putting on a fake smile. "Right. Look, you may be queen, but you hurt my friend. And no fake social hierarchy is going to keep me from pretending that you're getting away with it. But she likes you again, so I'm just around to protect her."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you. You're cheer captain for a reason." Maya directed her attention to Riley. "You've got some good friends here. I should go."

"Don't," she murmured, barely loud enough for Maya to hear. More confidently, she added, "I have great friends. And you're going to be one of them again, Maya. Yesterday, you helped me see that it's okay to take a little risk and that's why I'm going on this date. You helped me."

Channing swept a little blush on to her cheeks and grinned. "You look great."

"Over the past two years, Sarah and Channing have shown me how to be sexy and charming and empowered; Is taught me how to be a warrior and have faith in people again," Riley said, pointedly. She didn't want them to feel under appreciated anymore. "You have something to teach me again too. We all do."

All her friends smiled at her, but with a quick glance at her phone, Maya said, "Great speech, Riles, but according to Zay, you have about 15 minutes to get ready."

"I think this will look great on you," Sarah said, tossing the blouse she'd been holding over to her. "Sexy, confident, but not too 'come and get it,' ya know?"

They giggled together. "I don't even think Lucas could look at me and think I'm asking him to come and get it."

"You have not seen how that boy looks at you."

She rolled her eyes as she pulled the long-sleeved, black shirt on. It had a slight v-neck and went well with her tan pseudo-suede button up skirt that Is picked out, with her cheer spandex shorts on underneath in case they were doing something a little more sports-oriented. "Well, whether or not he thinks that of me, it's not happening on the first date. Or the second or third or fourth."

"But the fifth?" Maya teased.

"If tonight goes well," she smiled, "we have the rest of our lives to plan _that_. Or at least until the end of high school."

"Riley, shut up."

"What, why?"

"Because you look hot. Look in the mirror."

She checked herself out, something she wasn't very accustomed to, but was glad her friends forced her too. All the cheer workouts gave her lightly defined arms, which were almost visible beneath the tight blouse, and a slim waist. Sarah's meticulous hair curling paid off and Channing was a true make-up wizard. "You guys are amazing."

"We enhanced," Sarah said, dismissing the credit, "but the looks are all yours."

"You're gorgeous, Riles," Maya and Is chimed together.

Her mom's voice bellowed from downstairs. "Lucas is here for you!"

"It's now or never, right ladies?" She took a deep breath and smiled, eager for her second first date with Lucas.

He was speaking with her parents by the doorway, but as soon as she came around the corner, his eyes were locked on hers. Lucas's mouth broke out in the widest grin — Riley was sincerely worried that his smile would break his face. "Hi."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hey."

From behind her, Maya groaned. "Not again. I thought we outgrew this."

"She's right, ya know," her dad chimed in. "For someone whose favorite thing to do is talking to my daughter, you're pretty bad at it."

"You'd think he'd have learned a word or two in the last few years," Isadora observed.

Ignoring all of them, Riley said, "Hi."

"Hey."

"Is this—"

"One of those moments I'll remember forever?"

"Yeah…"

"Yes." Lucas shook his head, but couldn't keep his smile off his face. _He was perfect_.

She held out her hand. "Ready?"

"For the last few years, yeah." He reached for her, his fingers gently stroking her own before lacing them together.

She felt her cheeks redden and her skin flame. But still, she said, "Perfect."


	17. sixteen part two

**A/N:** So this is what it feels like to sit and down and write without hesitation. Lucas and Riley, two adorable cutie-pies, finally getting their ski lodge moment. :) Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Their hands were still interlocked long after they left her family's apartment and arrived at her favorite ice cream shop. "Starting with dessert?"

"We do what we do," Lucas said. He played with her fingers — she melted at his touch. He wasn't perfect, but he was real. He was with her again. "What's on your mind, Riles?"

Without thinking, she answered, "It's so easy to fall into us again."

"Does that scare you?"

"Yes and no."

"Good. I feel the same way."

The cashier gestured for them to come up and order. "One small cup of mango sorbet—"

"And a small waffle cone with a scoop of cookie dough ice cream. With sprinkles," he finished for her. Riley giggled as he squeezed her hand with a knowing smile on his lips. "We don't wanna spoil our appetites."

"Speaking of which, where are we going?"

"You'll see." Lucas winked at her, reaching for the cone and cup from the cashier at the same time. While his hands were full, Riley pulled out a few dollar bills and paid. He protested, "Riley, this is a date! I'm supposed to pay."

"I'm perfectly qualified to pay; my money is just as special as your money," she pointed out.

"You're right, you're right," he relented, grinning. "Certain ideologies are hard to break."

They walked along the street, unable to hold hands so that Lucas could eat his sorbet with a spoon but shoulders practically glued together. The sun was mostly set, the sky becoming a mix of yellows, pinks, and a deep blue. All of the building lights shined brightly like thousands of stars close enough for them to touch. She finished up her cone as quickly as possible and turned to look at him, sucking all the ice cream off his spoon. He glanced at her. "Your smile is still just as beautiful as ever."

Immediately, Riley grabbed Lucas by the hand and pulled him to her, chests almost touching. She tilted her head up slowly, chin first and her eyes followed. With her free hand, Riley lightly grasped the back of his neck and brought him close enough for their lips to meet. Lucas was soft and gentle and it was all too quick when she pulled away. But as soon she felt his absence, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her back in to another kiss. There was a faint clatter on the sidewalk as his hand moved upward to cup her cheek, thumb lightly stroking under her jaw

This kiss was deeper — Riley felt like her skin was on fire. "Lucas…."

He broke away, keeping his forehead against hers, and, with a smile, apologized, "I'm sorry. I-I got carried away."

"It's okay," she reassured him, licking her lower lip, and he looked away shyly, bending down to pick up his fallen cup. "It's something I've wanted to do since…."

"Since?" Lucas's eyes were bright in anticipation.

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "I didn't admit it to myself until recently, but I think I've wanted to kiss you for real forever. Since I fell into your lap."

She took a deep breath and stepped back. Lightly smoothing out her skirt, Riley reminded both of them, "We're supposed to be going slowly. Right?"

"Right. We're getting to know each other again." He extended his hand. "So let's go."

They continued their journey down the streets of New York, hands clamped together again. Lucas led her most of the way and she asked, "What's something new about you?"

"Nothing, really. I've already told you about Dawn and Finley, the animal shelter, A&M and UC Davis."

"Plans for the summer?"

"The twins wanna stay, but I wouldn't mind visiting Pappy Joe back in Texas. Especially if I end up in Davis, I guess."

 _California. Texas._ "What's the difference?"

"What was that?"

She didn't mean to complain aloud, but it was out. "You're going away by the end of this year."

"I applied to Cornell too, so that's only 4 hours away." He squeezed her hand. "And you have your eyes set on UC Berkeley…."

"But my dream is still Columbia," she pointed out.

"We have time — it's only October."

"So we get to know each other again and then we don't work out because of long distance? Talking to you was my favorite thing in the world, Lucas, and the last two years without you was awful. I can't lose you again," her voice broke over her last words.

"Riley, that's not going to happen," he stated, "because even if you and I don't end up together, we will always be in each other's lives."

"But—"

"No buts. Talking to you is my favorite thing too. I wouldn't do anything about us if it wasn't worth the risk." Lucas grabbed her other hand and stood in front of her. "Right now, you're worth the risk. Like you said, let's get to know each other again."

He kissed her forehead, murmuring, "It's comforting to know that worried Riley is still in there, worrying about us and our friendship. I worry too."

Lips pressed together, a smile reluctantly formed. "Okay."

"For now, in the present time, in October, let's focus here and eat dinner."

Riley looked around, only seeing large throngs of people and busy streets. "Where?"

"Right this way, Riles." He guided her through an alleyway to a wrought iron gate. It creaked loudly as they slid into the pocket park it was protecting. In it was a wooden picnic table, with a light blue table cloth draped over it, and a woven basket filled with food. He let go of her hand to press a button, and immediately, a thousand soft twinkle lights turned on.

Lucas reached into the basket and pulled out a single sunflower. "For you."

"This is amazing, Lucas. You did all this?"

"I had some help from Farkle and Zay. And a little input from Maya and Isadora," he replied, shrugging. "I wanted tonight to be special."

"You definitely succeeded." She sat down and he delved into the basket of food, which smelled glorious.

"It's hot and fresh." There were barbecue beef brisket sandwiches and a couple grilled cheeses, Lucas's specialty, and garlic mashed potatoes.

"It smells great. Are these your mom's recipes?"

He nodded. "She's been teaching me how to cook and writing down recipes for me to take to college. I keep telling her I'll probably be stuck in a dorm for the first year or so, but she just wants me to be prepared."

Riley took a grilled cheese from the tupperware and sank her teeth into it. _Yum_. The bread was perfectly toasted, cheese melt-in-your-mouth — it was fantastic.

They ate quietly at first, unsure of how to carry the conversation after their earlier, serious one. "What do you do in your spare time?"

She swallowed first before answering. "I've gotten into photography and museum-going. I'm still doing ballet and the school news announcements."

"And your gossip podcast."

Her mouth twitched in surprise, causing her to bite her lip. "What?"

"I had my suspicions from last year, but Maya pretty much confirmed it that day at your old elementary school." She'd been hoping that no one else caught on to Maya's biting comment, but clearly, Lucas wasn't easily fooled.

"Right," she groaned, "my anonymous podcast. I tried to keep it a well-hidden secret."

He wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin and grinned. "I'm sure you did."

"You know, Is totally called it. The first day of school she asked me why I spent so much time trying to hide my identity and it was so that you wouldn't find out. And she said, incredibly sassy might I add, 'statistically speaking, you-know-who already knows.'" She giggled.

"There's a reason she got into all those Ivy League schools really early." The brunette nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "How are you guys? All these changes in the last few weeks must've been hard on your friendship."

"Surprisingly, not bad. She's my best friend now and hopefully for the rest of our lives. She loved Farkle, she forgave Farkle, and Farkle changed. Her love changed him. Getting to see that happen made me love her more. So all these changes in our lives? They're worth it. We're stronger," she answered confidently, taking a sip of the bottled ginger ale from her favorite bodega.

"And you and Maya?"

"We are trying," she said timidly. "But I know we're going to be great friends again."

"Thunder and lightning?"

"With Is as the moon." The sun had gone down and in the darkness of night, his eyes were sparkling across the table. Sparkling for her. "I could never replace her."

"How will you and Is fare across the country?"

"We can make it." She took a large bite of the beef brisket sandwich, smashing barbecue sauce all over her mouth. _So much for Channing's makeover._ "Oops."

Lucas got up from his side of the table and scooted next to her, taking a napkin to help wipe her face. "That's adorable."

Deflecting his compliment, she joked, "If this is the kind of food you'll be making in college, I will gladly follow you."

"Before we make any rash decisions," he teased, "let's see where the universe accepts us. I don't want our future colleges to hold us back from being us. If we date and have to go to separate schools, my only regret will have been being so stupid the last two years and trying to force you to forgive me."

"Back in middle school," she started, "you were always so easily fired up about the things and people you cared about. To the point of making poor decisions. You were sensibility; I was sense. All logic. But you're different now, you have both. And I think it's wonderful."

"This Riley that you are right now isn't unlike who I used to know: passionate and wildly unapologetic for how you defend your friends. You're more confident though and you have different friends and hobbies, but the core of who you are is the same." He tucked her hair behind her ear, letting his fingers stroke her cheek as they dropped back down. "I'm sorry if this is too fast for you, I know you wanted us to get to know each other again after our argument at Farkle's. But I've been getting to know you again, not just by talking, but by watching you with your new friends and with Is and with all of us for the project."

She whispered, "I know. I know we have been."

"You said you were scared if I would like you now for who you've become."

"What's the verdict?"

"I like you still for who you've been and who you are and who you will become." The beautiful boy in front of her rested his forehead against hers and whispered, "Riley Matthews, I choose you and I hope you choose me too."

"I do. I always have."

Lucas cupped her cheek, before gently guiding his fingers to the back of her neck as he leaned in, grazing her lips with his. She pushed further, setting her arms over his shoulders, chests touching. They broke apart, laughing, and he said, "This is going a lot better than at the ski lodge, isn't it?"

"This time I know Maya isn't pulling the strings. I know in my heart that this is you and me." Riley pressed a kiss against his lips again. "So are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"You bet your ass we are."

She gasped. "Lucas Friar! I knew you were more raucous now, but not like this."

"Don't pretend you don't like it."

"You're right. I like my good guys with a little danger." As soon as she said it, he stole another kiss from her, unable to keep himself away. And she let him and she let herself fall into him, with no worries and no panicked hearts.

No pressure, no running, just them. Giving and taking, becoming one.


	18. seventeen

**Podcast #10**

 _The rumors are true, ladies and gentlemen, Lucas and Riley have reunited. But we should've known, nothing can keep true love apart. But in more interesting news, our wild art Queen has found a new court: one that contains Isadora Smackle, Sarah Carpenter, Channing Yang, and, you guessed it, Riley Matthews. How will the Abigail Adams kingdom survive under these new changes?_

* * *

Every morning for the next few months, Lucas called her to wake her up. Every afternoon, they studied in the bay window before her parents and Auggie came home. Every night, she called him after she brushed her teeth. Deep down, Riley knew they were in the nauseating honeymoon phase, but she wasn't worried when it would end. Part of her was anticipating it with an eager heart. The tough conversations, the inevitable long distance — she was ready for it all. Lucas always got her feeling some type of way.

"What's on your mind, babe?"

Her heart fluttered at the sound of his nickname for her. "Just thinking about you."

"We are disgusting, aren't we?"

"Of course, but I love it." She chuckled and reached for his hand, holding it gently. "We should probably get a grip."

Lucas laughed. "It's crazy: back in September, I thought I was going to graduate and go back to Texas without ever talking to you guys again. Now, here we are, meeting to work on homework at Topanga's."

It had already been about three months since her and Lucas were reunited, and since all of them were reunited, but they hadn't yet found their way back to the bay window. She ate lunch every day with Maya, Channing, and Sarah; studied most nights with Is, Farkle, and Zay; had movie nights with Maya and Farkle just like they did in elementary school; and Lucas came over to eat breakfast with the Hunters and her family almost every morning. This was the senior year she'd dreamt about back when she was a freshman.

"Definitely," Farkle interjected, walking in holding is's hand. "I'm glad we're working here instead of the library. What do you think, my beloved?"

Is simply smiled and rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as soon as they sat down on one of the love-seats. Riley loved it: her best friends happy and in love and going to the schools of their dreams.

When Zay and Maya settled in with their iced coffees, Riley asked, "Is? Do you remember what you asked me on the first day of school?"

"I asked if you missed our friends, and if it was okay that I did. Why do you ask?"

"I missed you all. I love us."

Zay cooed. "Aw, sugar. Why are you getting all sentimental on us?"

"Because we're supposed to be opening our college acceptance letters today, with Channing and Sarah by the way, and I'm feeling a little sad that we wasted so much time apart."

"I think it made us stronger," Maya pointed out. "We all had a few things we needed to learn."

She was right of course, but Riley hoped that one day she'd stop wondering whether or not they could've learned all those things without the pain and heartbreak. "You know what? It's been five months since the Homecoming dance, I think we're ready."

Is smiled up at her sweetly. "Ready for what, Riles?"

"For the bay window," she stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "Let's go. I'll text Channing and Sarah about the location change."

"Are you sure this isn't too soon?"

"Everyone has been back to the bay window already, we just haven't done it as a group. Now, we can sit around and wait for the universe to tell us when we're ready or make that decision for ourselves. Because other than Farkle and Is, we also have to make a big decision about college and our friendships."

Everyone looked at Maya. It was still second nature for them to turn to her when Riley got, well, riled up. "You heard her."

So the group packed up their things, the things they were supposed to be studying for, and made their way up to the bay window. Lucas held her hand and kissed her on the forehead, leaning in to whisper, "It's actually very hot seeing you get excited like that."

Riley's skin felt hot suddenly. For all their times of sickeningly sweet displays of affection, there were moments like this where Lucas got her blood boiling. Especially when they weren't alone. She hissed, "You said you respected me!"

He lifted his palms in the air. "You know I do, Riley. I can't wait for the day we decide to be intimate with each other."

"Did you just say intimate?"

"Just because I'm a teenage boy who thinks about - uh, being intimate - a lot doesn't mean it's all I think about."

"I think about it too," she admitted softly. "But not right now, not in front of them."

"Later?"

"We can discuss."

He placed a kiss on her lips, catching her off-guard and a little open-mouthed, and smirked as he pulled away. "Can't wait."

Channing and Sarah were already waiting at the front door with the rest of the group. Zay had a wide, knowing grin and said, "What took you two so long?"

"We were making out," Riley retorted as she opened the door.

"I've never expected such a bold admission from my eldest child," Topanga said proudly from the couch, without even looking up.

"Sorry, mom," she started to say as Lucas blurted, "We really weren't, I swear."

"I totally believe you," her mom said absentmindedly, still flipping through her magazine.

"We'll all be upstairs checking on college acceptances and rejections if that's okay."

That caught her mom's attention. "Of course it is! Good luck!"

They took their seats around the bay window, with Riley, Is, and Maya on the bench sitting shoulder to shoulder. Everyone, except Isadora and Farkle, took out their laptops and started signing into the various university portals provided by the admissions departments.

"So who's going first?"

"We should open our letters together," Channing suggested. She and Sarah had become nearly integral parts of their group of friends, and Riley loved it. "That's what you guys would do, right?"

Lucas smiled. "You got it."

"Okay, so on three," Isadora said.

"One…."

"Two…."

"Three!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Yep so there was a time jump for this last short chapter and then the epilogue is next (with another time jump haha)


	19. epilogue

It took Riley exactly one week to decide where she wanted to go for college after she and her friends opened their college acceptance letters in the bay window. Her first letter had been disappointing: Columbia had rejected her. Her friends tried to reassure and comfort her as quickly as possible, but she felt mostly surprised. No, Riley wasn't surprised she got rejected, she was surprised that she didn't actually mind.

Sure, Columbia was all she talked about for years with her parents; but the idea of staying in the state, let alone the city, had made her grow restless. She was ready for something new. And according to her various acceptance letters, that meant either UChicago or Stanford University.

Both had great pre-law programs, and she knew that Chicago would feel like another big city, one of familiarity. But before she knew it, she had her heart set on California.

The first person she told was Is, who was pleasantly surprised. "You were accepted into NYU, which may not be up to Columbia's standards…."

Riley understood immediately what Is meant. "I'm going to miss you too. But with you in Boston pursuing your dreams, it'd be a little hard to stay in the same place I've always been, sort of pursuing mine."

Is gave her a tight hug. "I will miss you dearly. I certainly believe that I made it through high school because you stayed by my side. You were the friend of a lifetime."

"We'll keep in touch, Is. This isn't goodbye!" Riley exclaimed, laughing loudly. "Farkle and I have been friends since we were seven. Do you really think I'm going to let go of you?"

"Life will change significantly without all of us in one city."

* * *

Maya and Zay took a little longer to decide. When they decided to tell the group together, Riley couldn't help but burst into tears for her friends. "What kind of choice is _that_?"

"Trust me, we've been talking about this a lot. It wasn't any easy decision, guys."

"The more we talked about our future goals, the less confident we were about our relationship," Zay added. "At least for right now. I'm going to school in Texas and this wonderful beauty is going to stay near here."

"At the Rhode Island School of Design," Maya squealed. She took a deep breath and brushed her blonde locks away from her face. "Maybe in a few years, we'll reconnect and try again. But long distance is so hard, especially at our age. I just don't know if I'm mentally and emotionally ready for that."

"Agreed."

Riley wiped the tears from her face and gave Zay a massive hug. "Isaiah Babineaux, if you ever need me, you give me a call and I'll listen. I'll only be a couple hours behind."

Maya pouted. "What about me?"

"That's a given," she waved her oldest friend off. As she pulled away from Zay, she made eye contact with Lucas. His mouth was curved downward and his eyebrows were furrowed.

Farkle asked, "So we've all decided where we're going?"

"Not exactly, there's just one lil hold out," Zay reminded the group, patting his best friend on the back. "So what's it gonna be, Lucas?"

"I- I don't know yet," he admitted. "I still have another week to think it over."

* * *

On April 30, everyone was waiting with bated breath for Lucas's decision. Riley and Zay did their best to avoid discussing it with him, in fear of subconsciously influencing him by leveraging their individual relationships with him. He didn't know if he wanted to stay in New York and study at Cornell; go back home with Zay at Texas A or try something new with Riley in California at UC Davis. She did her best to encourage him to follow his heart and his passion.

"UC Davis is the top school for animal sciences in the nation, and you'd have a better chance of getting into their vet school if you start there," she said as she scrounged the message boards and forums comparing Davis and Cornell. She quickly added, "But it's not guaranteed."

"Riles," he said, a little too loudly, "where do you want me to go?"

"It's not m-"

"No, I know. And you and Zay have been incredible at trying to not be biased but I want to know what you want. Because I know what I want and maybe it's too crazy."

"If you already know, then why are you aski-"

" _Riley_. Please."

She answered truthfully. "Stanford is only a two hour drive from UC Davis. I looked it up. I want you to go where your heart is. And if that's at home in Texas with your Grandpappy and Zay, then I understand."

In one swift motion, he pushed his laptop off of him and onto his bed, getting up and going to her in two easy strides. He held her face with both hands and pressed a gentle kiss on her half-open mouth. "I love you, Riley Matthews."

"W-what?"

"I'm in love with you. And I know what Maya and Zay were saying about long distance last week was something you've probably let keep you up at night. But even if we're a thousand miles apart, I'll be thinking of you every night."

Her heart fell. He was going back to Texas. Before she had a chance to congratulate him on his decision, Lucas kissed her again. "After two years of not making the choice to go after you, I'd be crazy to choose to go to school a thousand miles away, Riles. I'm gonna go to the top vet school in the country and just be two hours away from you."

"I love you too."

* * *

At graduation, her dad wore a Stanford-colored tie, and shook hands with all of her friends as they crossed the stage. Isadora and Farkle gave comedic, heartfelt speeches as co-valedictorians. Channing, Sarah, and the rest of the cheer squad took an endless stream of selfies from the crowd and Zay even managed to blow up a few beach balls for the senior class to toss around. As soon as their tossed their caps into the air, Lucas came from behind and picked her up, swinging her in celebration.

Fireworks exploded in the night sky above them, and she tilted her head back against her boyfriend's chest and smiled.

* * *

Over the summer, Riley started to clean out her closet, getting rid of pieces she'd grown out of or hadn't worn in forever. Soon, her wardrobe would consist mostly of crop tops and shorts, though she knew northern California had the occasional chilly day.

Sometimes, Maya would join her, chatting nervously in the bay window, still uneasy about her best friend moving across the country. When Maya said, "You know, if you do decide to come back for winter break, maybe we can go on a trip."

"Or you could fly out to San Francisco and you can experience some West Coast culture?"

"You'd want me to come visit?"

"Of course, Maya. Don't be ridiculous." Riley dropped the ratty sweater she'd been trying to fold properly on the floor, and grabbed Maya's hand. "You and I are forever."

* * *

Other times Is came over and helped her organize and make lists of things she still needed to do. Riley knew she needed to keep busy. "You don't have to keep making lists, Is."

"When else will we spend time together?"

"Is-"

"I leave first for Boston in early August. Farkle, my beloved, of course will come along with me since Columbia doesn't start until two weeks later. I know I will have time for my goodbyes with the group, but you, Riley, I need to spend time with you."

The gravity of the situation was starting to sink in. They were all going to be in different states for the next four years, or maybe even more. "Can you help write a to-do list for a goodbye in late July?"

"On it."

* * *

Farkle and Zay refused to help Riley get ready to move across the country. Instead they dragged her out of her house to go get tacos at midnight or get ice cream before dinner, even bringing little Auggie along. One night they found themselves eating Halal Guys in the moonlight on her fire escape when she decided to finally ask, "Are you really okay with your breakup?"

Zay sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "It was actually my idea."

"What?"

"I know Maya really well, maybe better than you now, Riley. I want her to feel comfortable at school, and not worry about me."

"Is that really it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I know that we loved each other at just the right time, and it might not need to be for the rest of our lives. Some high school relationships end. We're not all-"

"Is and Farkle?" Farkle smiled cheekily.

Zay cleared his throat and grinned. "I was going to say Cory and Topanga."

* * *

Her parents were the worst. They decorated the house with all kinds of Stanford paraphernalia. Her mom was stuck on her repeat. "You don't know how proud I am of you!"

"I'm still not comfortable with Lucas living closer to you than us. Maybe it's time for the Matthews to head west!" Her dad would suggest every night at dinner. With Lucas sitting right across from him.

* * *

As the summer started to wind down, she and Lucas saw each other less so that they could focus on the friends who wouldn't be following them to the other side of the country. They knew it was still going to be like a long distance relationship, but they could at least see each other on weekends.

"Are you scared?" She whispered into her phone underneath her blankets.

"Yea. Terrified," he mock whispered back. "It's not the first time I moved, but it feels more important somehow."

"I'm going to miss all of them."

"Me too, Riles. Me too."

* * *

The night before their going away party, her parents allowed her friends to sleep over. They knew there wouldn't be any funny business going on under their roof, and she knew that they understood that her group of friends needed this. It was important to them.

Maya, Riley, and Is had set up camp on her bed, and the boys were surprised they could all fit. Riley exclaimed, "This bed is massive! I don't use all this space up every night."

"I call dibs on the bay window," Farkle said, dropping his sleeping back right on top it and studying it. "It may be a weird shape, but it's bound to be more comfortable than the floor."

"Dude, that's why I brought the beanbags." Zay spread himself out across the floor. "Lucas and I will be sleeping like kings tonight."

"Yeah, kings on the floor," Farkle retorted, dodging the pillow Zay had chucked at him. "Hey, watch it. Riley got her room all nice and clean and we better not trash it."

"Please, it's clean because she's almost done packing and ready to ride off into the sunset with Ranger Rick," Maya said playfully as Riley lightly shoved her off the bed.

"I think we're all riding off into our own sunsets," she replied. "Is will be at the school of her dreams in three days, you're going to be at one of the best art schools in the country. How is this not everything we all dreamed of? Why are we so sad?"

"Because for the first time, Riley, going after our dreams means being apart. I've always wanted you and Maya by my side when my dreams came true. And now? Now we don't get that."

She gulped, and tried to blink back her tears at Farkle's words. "Damn it, Farkle, I wasn't supposed to cry until tomorrow. Maybe in four years we'll be back together."

"Or this is the last time we're all ever in one room," Is pointed out.

"No, I won't allow that. We should make a plan right now to meet up together in four years. That way we have something to look forward to."

Her friends were oddly quiet as they thought about her proposal. Maya was the first to speak up. "I'm in."

"Me too."

"Same."

"Let's do it."

"Of course."

* * *

They shared secrets well into the night. Maya admitted that she'd been shocked when Zay suggested breaking up; Farkle confessed that he was terrified of no longer being one of the smartest people in the room; Riley brought up her secret identity as a gossip girl wannabe.

To her annoyance, each of her friends told her that wasn't a secret because they'd known ever since she started. "But how?"

"We know you."

Lucas played with her fingers. "We know you because we love you. We'd recognize you anywhere."

* * *

Their departures came so quickly. Isadora drove down to Boston, shaking with nervous excitement. Farkle went with her and returned in no time at all, eager for his own studies to begin. They all went to the airport together to see Zay off, and soon it was Lucas's and her turn. Maya had gone up to Rhode Island to get her dorm ready, but came back just for them.

Neither of them could see clearly as they hugged and said their goodbyes. In fact, Riley was sure her eyes hadn't been without tears for the entirety of August. She whispered into Maya's hair, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Thunder?"

"Lightning."

" _Forever_."

* * *

Lucas held her hand as the plane took off, and she settled in next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. The tears eventually stopped, but Riley knew better: once she left Lucas to take her train down to Stanford, they would come back. No more phone calls that ended in one of them outside the other's home, no more fifty cent tacos, no more friends crawling in through her window and eating all her cereal.

No more life lessons from her dad masked as history lessons. No more history classes. No more secret podcasts. Everything was changing. But she knew one thing that wouldn't: "I love you, Lucas Friar."

"I love you too, Riley Matthews."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And that's my finale! Thank you guys so much for your support and love over the last year. If anyone ever sends me a prompt or idea about this specific world/storyline, I'll end up adding to their story with a series of oneshots. :) Love you all!


End file.
